After Forever: a Futuristic Feudal-Era family's story
by Jay Watson
Summary: CH.1 Eve Of Destruction This is how Kagome's brother, Souta, reacted to her sudden leaving. This chapter was inspired in part by the song of the same name by Barry McGuire.
1. Chapter 1

Ch.1 "Eve of Destruction."

"Where is it? Where is it?" Eleven-year-old Souta Higurashi muttered to himself as he dug through the magazine rack for the fourth time, trying to find what he was looking for. There, in the far right-hand side of the rack was the stack of his favorite comic books, neatly arranged in one row. Quickly he flipped through them as his excitement grew in the hopes of finding the special one he had been looking for over the past week. Then, there it was, its metallic emblazoned logo blasting out from the cover like a bolt of silver lightning, beckoning him.

"There it is!" he crowed, plucking out the coveted comic from the pile. "Astro-Boy special issue number four hundred-twenty!" It was the big double-size special with foil-embossed front cover made in a limited production run. And now he had a copy!

He returned to the check-out counter with his prize, along with the two items he was sent to get from the corner store, a gallon of that fancy American brand vanilla ice cream and a two-liter bottle of root-beer soda.

"Anything else I can help you with?" the girl behind the counter asked, hearing Souta's crowing at finding the comic book clear across the convenient store.

"You bet! I've been searching for this issue all over the prefecture. I thought I'd missed out on it," he flipped over the comic, holding it up to show off the fancy cover artwork. The teenager didn't seem all that impressed, half-shrugging.

"Well, I'm glad we had what you were looking for." She rang up the items, not really interested in the comic book that she could see Souta was almost drooling over.

Souta wasn't put off by her disinterest as he was too excited to finally read this issue after supper tonight. He and his family were going to make root beer floats in celebration of his sister Kagome's graduation from high school. Souta paid for the items and headed for home, feeling upbeat. This would be a great summer, he believed.

He'd made the Dean's List for the second straight year and would be in a good class starting seventh grade this fall. His letter of application for summer soccer league was all filled out and ready to be mailed first thing in the morning. His team had finished last season in third place and that meant he didn't have to go to tryouts along with the first-timers. Hopefully some of the same guys would also be there with him.

Kagome had managed to graduate from high school, albeit near the lower portion of her class roster, and was thinking about what college she wanted to go to. Their mom was cooking up something really special for supper tonight in celebration. She was proud of her children for having done well this past year. Could life get any better then this?

He bounded up the stone staircase in quick and lively jumps that lead to the ancient shrine and its grounds his family had watched over for the past six generations. He hurried to the front door of their house. In one hand was the dessert for after dinner in the shopping bag and his comic in a separate brown bag so as to not let it get wet.

"I'm back!" Souta brightly announced his arrival. The soon-to-be seventh grader hopped out of his sneakers and into his slippers, dessert items in hand as promised. He found his mother and grandfather seated at the kitchen table, looking rather serious. Something was amiss here.

"Is everything alright, mom?" He could see this was not good. It was very quiet in the kitchen and his mom wasn't cooking. "Hey, where's Kagome?" He glanced around the kitchen, not seeing his sister.

"Sit down, Souta." His mom gently instructed. Not sure what was going on, he put the soda in the fridge, the ice cream in the freezer and did as he was told.

"Souta," his mother began, "You understand how much Inuyasha meant to your sister, don't you?"

He half-shrugged in response. "Well, yeah. It was pretty obvious. Why?"

"And you understand how much she wanted to be with him, don't you?" Mai continued. "That she believed it was their fate to be together."

"I guess so. Kagome believed all that stuff. She hasn't seen Inuyasha in three years since the well closed off, when she came back that last time. She wouldn't talk about what happened when she was away." He looked over at his grandfather, wondering what this was all about.

"Souta, I'm not sure how to say this," Mai braced herself as her son looked at her, "while Kagome and I were standing by the old well and talking, for a reason I can't explain, the well opened up and revealed a way for her to return to her friends and she…" Mai was having trouble finishing her statement.

Souta felt the cold clammy fear ooze over him from the sinking feeling in his gut, almost knowing what was going to be said before his mom said it. "And she… _what_?" His voice was very quiet.

"…and she jumped down the well to go stay with them on the other side." Mai forced it out. "Just after she went through, I watched the well close up behind her."

There was an awful silence in the room, broken only by the sound of the water dripping from the kitchen faucet. He'd been gone from the house for, what, fifteen maybe twenty minutes at most? His sister had been standing in the kitchen when he left. Now he was being told she was gone.

Souta felt his body go numb as his world exploded right before his eyes. He sat there momentarily dumbstruck, almost unable to comprehend what he just heard. He turned to look at his grandfather, wanting to hear from him if this was really so.

"It's true, my boy. She's gone to be with him. They will be happy together." His grandfather was trying to sound glad for his granddaughter in finding true love, but having a family member depart like this was hard on him too.

"But…but…that's not possible! She was right there! She was standing right there!" Souta jumped up, his chair fell backwards to clatter against the floor as he pointed to the spot where he had last seen his big sister. He held his head with both hands, reeling from this news, panting a little in shock.

 _This…this is crazy_! _She can't be gone_! _I was gone for only a few minutes_! Souta's mind just couldn't wrap around the idea of his sister just up and vanishing like that.

Mai tried to console her son. "Please understand, Souta. This was her fate after all. We should be happy for her and Inuyasha."

But at eleven years old, Souta only felt the sudden fear and pain of losing his only sibling in an instant. He bolted out the back kitchen door, sprinting towards the Bone Eater's well.

"Kagome! Wait!" He cried out, the coldness of her absence filling his heart. Souta ran to the shed where the well resided, jumped down the steps to see if any trace of his sister was left behind. But it was dark and still down in the well's shaft, with nothing to disturb the silence except the faint echoes of his voice.

Souta felt so torn inside, standing there, his feelings jumbled up inside him by this sudden and unexpected turn of events. He felt such angry betrayal at Kagome for leaving that he wanted to scream. How dared she?! How dared she just discard him and their family by leaving like that?! Didn't she care how they'd feel if she left them?!

But at the same time, he was relieved that she was finally with Inuyasha after all that time they'd spent together and the three years she was away from him. They were made for each other. Now his emotions swung wildly back, on the edge of tears from her leaving and wishing she would come back. He didn't know what to feel.

He knew his sister and Inuyasha were in love; it had been so obvious to him. But Souta never thought she'd just up and leave her family. Here one second and then, _blip_! Gone. No drums, no fanfare, not even a farewell to him. This was so sudden and he simply wasn't prepared for it. He had so much he'd wanted to say to her and Inuyasha in case she did leave. Now, he'd never get the chance to tell either one how he felt. The sudden emptiness felt like a cruel kick in the stomach.

 _She's gone_! _Gone forever_! Souta gripped the well's ledge tighter in his hands, clenching his teeth when realizing his mistake.

 _If I hadn't been so selfish in looking for that comic like I did, I would've been back in time to see her leave_! _I could've said what I wanted before she went_! _I should've been here to see her go_! Would've, could've, should've; it was all academic now. His head fell forward at the knowledge that what had cost him a few hundred yen was nothing to the cost of his sister never learning how proud he was of her or how much he'd admired Inuyasha.

He turned around, seeing his mom now standing in the doorway to the shed that covered the Bone Eaters well. The sadness from his eyes left trails down his cheeks. "Was she happy to go back to stay with Inuyasha?"

Mai came over and held him in her arms, assuring him. "She was very happy, Souta. Very." Souta held a little tighter, needing her love and support right now as it just hurt too much for him to know his only sister was gone.


	2. Whiter Shade of Pale

Ch. 2 "A Whiter Shade of Pale"

The days following Kagome's departure passed with a quiet melancholy for the three family members. Mai inadvertently set a place for Kagome one night at dinner, having briefly forgotten she was no longer here with them.

Seeing the empty chair with the place setting so upset Souta that he ran from the table and hid in the bathroom. He stayed in there for a good ten minutes with the sink water running, to try and hide the sound of his crying.

More than once in the weeks following did Souta catch sight of his mother standing at the door to Kagome's room, gazing at every small detail. The room was a moment frozen in time that Mai was having trouble finding the will to disturb.

On the bed lay her daughter's graduation gown and mortarboard, along with her diploma still in its case. Kagome's last notebooks, supplies, cell phone and calculator were still on the desk. Her school jacket hung off the back of the chair. The bedding was still mussed from the last night she'd slept in their house. Even her laptop computer was still on, its lid closed in sleep mode from Kagome's last usage.

Mai found it tough to keep her spirits up when she found one of Kagome's school uniforms still in the dryer, left behind. She had to steel herself not to give in to fear or sorrow for her daughter's decision. It was Kagome's choice and no one else's. Mai accepted that.

But losing all contact with her only daughter was very hard. Her mind told her that Kagome was fine and so was her new husband. She believed that they were happy and were going to have a long life together. But missing out on those special family moments in life was still difficult to endure for Mai. She instinctively knew Kagome would have a family and would have loved sharing those moments with her mother. The not knowing was what made it weigh so heavily on her heart.

Each of the Higurashi family coped differently. Mai prayed daily for her family to be strong and for happiness for all of them. Her father found quiet assurance and solace in pruning his _bonsai_ trees, sure that all was well with Kagome. But Souta was not coping so well. For a few weeks now he'd moped around the house, existing in a state of silent depression knowing Kagome was not coming back. He'd not even bothered to submit his application on time, missing the deadline and having to forgo playing in the soccer league this summer. Despite his mother's encouragement to appeal to the league's chairman, Souta's heart was not in it this summer. Without Kagome there to cheer him on like she'd always done, soccer just didn't have the same joy to it anymore.

Souta receded more into himself, spending his summer days either glued to his video games or working around the grounds of the shrine, doing odd jobs and spending time sitting under the _Go-Shinboku_ , the Sacred-god tree, lost in thought. Mai began to worry about his state of mind, seeing him so uninterested in his usual hobbies and being very quiet and withdrawn.

By the end of July, Souta's new school uniforms had arrived and he'd received the letter from school with the list of new textbooks he needed to buy for the new school year. Life was moving forward and Souta had to get ready for the next semester. He would try to put on a brave face and carry on. Before taking her son out to the store to get his school supplies this August morning, Mai had a question for him.

"Souta, I was wondering if you could help me today," she began as she slipped the omelet onto his waiting breakfast plate. He smiled a little when taking the plate from her. She'd made his omelet just the way he liked it, firm with little bits of chopped ham and cheese in it.

"With what, mom?" He helped himself to some of the rice in the serving dish to eat with his omelet.

"Well," she paused for a second. "I was wondering, maybe you'd like to have Kagome's old room now? It's much bigger than yours and I'm sure you could use the space." She held her breath, gaging Souta's reaction to the request. His expression soured at first, the thought of disturbing Kagome's things still bothered him. The hurt was still a little raw.

"We'll do the job together, you and I. I'll get us a few boxes and we'll clean up the room. And then," she paused again, "You can decide if you want the room afterwards. Okay?" she reached out to touch his arm, letting her son know that she understood. This would aid in the healing, putting closure on a part of life and looking forward to a new phase.

"Okay." He'd try to help out, but it made him feel weird inside at the thought of disturbing Kagome's stuff.

On the train ride into the city, Souta rechecked his shopping list of books and supplies. He could sell some his old books back to the store for credit and use it to buy his new ones. He had Kagome's old books as well, hoping to get a little more money for them to put towards what he needed.

"The new textbooks went up in prince this year." He groaned, not expecting higher education to cost so much.

"I know. But don't worry, dear. We have enough to get what you need. Besides," his mom smiled at him. "With trading in your old text books there'll be some money for some new clothes too, if you'd wanted to get some new jeans or sneakers." Perhaps some new clothes would boost his confidence and help pull him out of his low spirits.

The local shopping mall was busy as usual with lots of kids hanging out, shopping for school stuff or just killing time. He spotted several classmates from across the food court, seeing them comparing school schedules to see if any were in the same classes as they were the previous year.

"Isn't that Takeshi and Akira over there?" His mom pointed them out to Souta, recognizing her son's soccer teammates from school.

"Yeah, it is." He saw how they were talking excitedly, obviously psyched up about something. He could have gone over to say hi to them, but chose to stay away, not wanting to be the buzz-kill right now and didn't feel like he could fake being happy around them. Perhaps by the time school started, he would feel better.

They first stopped at the book store to get the new textbooks. It was crowded with kids from both the junior and senior high schools, all trying to get what they needed. It took a while to get out of the book store and then head to the Store 109 boutique for a new pair of jeans or two.

From exploring a few racks, Souta found a few pairs the right size and with a cool look to them. "Go try them on and let me see," Mai encouraged, seeing her son taking a liking to the new clothes. He went off to the changing room, emerging with the new pair on. He stood in front of the tall mirrors, actually smiling a little at how he looked in them. His mother nodded approvingly.

"I think I saw something that would go well with them." Remembering the shirt she'd just seen that would go perfect with the jeans, Mai headed back to the rack near the store's window. She didn't see the two girls walking in, but overheard them talking as they entered.

"…I saw him walk in here a few minutes ago. I'll introduce you to him. He's a really nice guy and I think you'd like him." Mai heard the snippet of conversation, turning from the rack she was looking over to see the two girls heading right over to where Souta was standing in front of the mirror. Mai kept her distance, half hiding behind the discount rack as she slyly moved closer with her back to them, listening.

"Souta- _kun_!" The first girl got Souta's attention away from the mirror. He turned around to find his classmate Sayumi standing there with someone he didn't recognize.

"Oh hi, Sayumi." He smiled at seeing her and her friend. "Who's this with you?"

"This is my cousin, Asami. She just moved here from Osaka with her family. She'll be going to our school this semester. I thought she should meet you, since you're on the Dean's list and on the school's soccer team."

"Nice to meet you, Asami." Souta smiled a little at the new girl who smiled back with a brace-laden grin.

"Hi!" Asami giggled a little, still a little shy at meeting the boy her cousin had hyped to her about. He sounded like such a popular guy, he being captain of the school's soccer team and an academic achiever on top of that.

"Where've you been hiding all summer? Hiro and I have been calling and texting you for weeks but you never answered back." Sayumi queried her classmate. Souta had to think quickly.

"Oh, yeah, well I must have lost my phone and…" Souta began, trying to fib his way out of the embarrassing situation but was interrupted by his mother's approach.

"Hello, Higurashi- _san_." Sayumi greeted her friend's mom.

"Hello Sayumi. It's nice to see you again." Mai was, thankfully, a quicker thinker then her son.

"We've still got to get over to the phone store to get you a new cell phone. You must have left it back at Kagome's house in America while we were visiting for her wedding." Souta gave her a grateful look.

"You got to go to America? And you didn't even tell us?!" Sayumi gasped in delight. Souta shrugged and smiled a little, following his mom's lead.

"Well, it was kind of sudden and I wasn't given a lot of time to get ready so I didn't have the chance." It seemed to convince his friend and she let it go.

"I'll be out in the food-court waiting. So when you're done in here just come find me." Mai excused herself from the youngsters. Souta was grateful for the space his mom gave so as not to feel embarrassed.

"That's so cool! I've always wanted to go there. What was it like?" Asami wondered wide-eyed.

"It's different, I can tell you that much." Souta half-joked, trying to avoid having to give details about someplace he'd never been to.

"Well, you can tell us all about your trip this week. My brother's having his graduation party and I'd like you to come." Kagome and Sayumi's older brother, Akio, had been in the same graduating class and had been in a few of the school's drama productions together. It was only natural for Souta to be invited to the party, since Kagome was no longer here. Souta contemplated the offer for a second or two. Perhaps it was good to get out and do something fun for a change.

"It sounds like fun. Count me in." Sayumi was visibly pleased.

"Great! Text me as soon as you get your new phone so I can send you the address." She paused to check her buzzing cell phone.

'It's my mom. She's outside waiting for us. We have to go now. Promise you'll text me as soon as you get a phone?" Sayumi and her cousin began walking out the store, looking back at Souta with big smiles.

"I promise." He assured her. The two girls hurried away, waving. Mai watched the two girls leave the store, giggling and carrying on like all school girls do. She returned to the store, seeing her son once again admiring the look of the new jeans he wore.

"Well, that was a pleasant surprise. What did Sayumi ask you?" Mai got her son's attention away from the mirror.

"She invited me to her brother Akio's graduation party this Saturday. I told her I'd come." Souta was only a little embarrassed at having to explain what they talked about. But Mai was glad her son was going. He needed to get out and feel good again. She didn't want him to mope around the house all summer. This would be good for him, she thought. Mai was heartened to see her son trying to stay on the brighter side.

"I think I like this pair more then the other." Souta turned back to face the mirror, convinced of the jeans he had on were the right ones. But his mom surprised him still.

"We'll get both pairs and the shirt I saw in the window to go with it. You should look sharp for the party. I'm sure the girls will be impressed." She smiled. Souta was grateful for the extra gift.

"Thanks mom." A trace of scarlet appeared on his cheeks, but he was grateful even through his embarrassment. He returned to the dressing room to get back into his old pair of jeans and brought both new pairs up to the front register where his mom had picked out a rather trendy looking shirt that went well with the jeans. Even the girl behind the counter seemed impressed with Souta's choice.

"Did you find everything you were looking for?" The checkout girl asked as she reached under the counter for something from the accessory display case. "Perhaps you would like to get this silver chain too. It goes well with the shirts and jeans." She winked at him, letting him know she'd overheard the conversation. Souta looked up at his mom, wondering if she would get it as well.

"We'll take it. Thank you." Mai handed over the money and paid for the clothes, glad to help her son out. Souta thought he was going to die of embarrassment, wanting to get out of the store as soon as possible.

"Here. Take this discount card. Use it the next time you're in here for ten percent off your next purchase." She handed Souta the card.

"Thanks." Souta muttered, trying to shove the card into a front pocket of his jeans. At the phone kiosk, Souta's eyes were drawn to the new Samsung twenty-gigabyte phone that had just been introduced. But it was eight-thousand yen, way too expensive to even think about asking to get. Mai saw him lingering over the pop-up display on the counter highlighting the phone and its features.

"Perhaps for your birthday, Souta," she told him, finding a more affordable model.

"That's okay, mom. I'm just glad you came up with that excuse to tell Sayumi. I had no idea what to say to her when she asked."

From another store in the mall they bought several shipping boxes and some rolls of packing tape in order to box up Kagome's things.

On the ride back home on the train Souta kept pretty quiet as he looked over the box and the instructions to his new phone, texting Sayumi that he'd be at her party. She texted back the address back to him, sending along a few private words that, as Mai noticed out of the corner of her eye, made Souta flush slightly.

He thought of the party he was invited to and what he would have to tell everyone who was expecting to see Kagome there. The excuse of her moving to America to get married sounded good enough and he could come up with some more details if anyone asked. He wondered how his sister and Inuyasha were doing back there in the feudal era. He hoped everything was going well for them.

Back home, Souta put away his new clothes and joined his mom in the kitchen for a quick lunch together. Finished eating, he then began taping the new boxes up and lugged them upstairs, plopping them down outside Kagome's old room. Mai joined him shortly in the hallway, looking in the bedroom to assess the task at hand.

"Where should we start?" Souta asked quietly. Mai sighed a little, looking about the collection of personal belongings of her departed daughter.

"I guess we can start with her clothes. Let's empty the closet first and go from there." She and Souta laid out the closet's contents on the bed, Mai taking care to pack them carefully and add some moth balls to them before taping the first box closed. Souta piled up the hangers outside the door, took out Kagome's collection of footwear and piled them in the hallway as well. He then went about picking up any trash in the room, removing the waste basket and its contents into a handy trash bag.

Mai wanted to say something to break the silence in the room as her son worked on in quiet determination. Together they packed up her clothes and coats then turned to the dresser and bookshelves to tackle next.

"You can start on the bookshelves." Mai instructed. Into two smaller boxes, Souta began packing up the small collection of books and magazines without much thought. But hidden within a pile of old girls' fanzines, Souta found a pink colored vinyl-covered book with 'Journal' embossed in gold lettering on the cover. A pink ribbon place-marker was still in one of the page entries. He picked it up, his eyes widening.

 _Hey, it's Kagome's journal_! Souta marveled at the idea of getting to peek in at his sister's writing of her school days, school crushes and girly facts like that. Perhaps he could gain a bit of insight to girls' thinking. He quickly hid it in the box with the other books, keeping it in sight so as to smuggle it out of the room.

He filled the first box up, hauling it out into the hallway so as to join the other bits of Kagome's stuff to be stored in the attic. Souta, once out of his mom's sight, slipped the journal out of the box and hid it under his shirt.

"Mom, I could use some of these hangers. Can I take some?" He asked from the hallway.

"Of course. Take as many as you need." Mai answered back. Quickly, Souta grabbed a handful of hangers and hustled downstairs to his room, dropping the hangers on his bed and slipping the journal from under his shirt to under his mattress for safe keeping.

He went back to upstairs to help with the cleaning out Kagome's room with his mom, not letting on what he'd found. But just thinking he had something personal of Kagome's he'd found made it a little bit easier to do it.

His mom put on the radio to keep them company as they worked. "Are you excited for the party on Saturday? Sayumi's cousin seemed like a nice girl, don't you think?" Mai wondered about what he son thought of going to the get-together and being a bit more social.

Souta kept packing away the books into the box. "I guess so. I haven't seen Sayumi since school let out. And I haven't seen her brother since we went to the school performance last Fall, remember?"

"I do. He was rather fond of Kagome, I thought." Mai remembered meeting her daughter's acting partner and how he had tried to make a good impression on her after the performance by being so courteous and respectful to Kagome's mom and grandfather.

An hour or so passed by as the duo of parent and child packed up all of Kagome's things into several boxes, ready to be stacked away in the attic. The last thing left in the room that they'd overlooked was the pink, frilly doorknob cozy on the back of the door. Souta and his mom stared at it for a second or two, apprehensive to remove the last trace of Kagome ever staying in this room. Mai reached out to take it off the doorknob.

"No, mom, wait." Souta stopped her. "Leave it, so if she does ever come back, she'll know it's still her room." Mai smiled at her son, understanding that he wasn't going to take his big sister's room. Not yet at least.

"Okay. We'll leave it here for now." Mai conceded. Souta felt better at knowing this one thing of his sister's was not going away.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3 "All Along the Watchtower."

Tomorrow was the first day of the new school term. Souta had already laid out his school uniform and had his backpack loaded up for his early morning rise. Before turning in for the night, Souta sat in his bed and studied the journal he held in his hands. Having found it a few weeks ago in Kagome's room, he was starting to have second thoughts about violating Kagome's privacy.

This was something she didn't necessarily want read by anyone else. These were her private thoughts. But Souta did want to know more about his sister than what he knew or thought he knew. Despite his better judgment, he succumbed to temptation in divulging into the journal's contents. His first instincts had proven correct, there were private thoughts written in the journal. But certainly not what he'd thought he'd find. Kagome had recounted a good number of the encounters she'd shared with Inuyasha and her friends in the Feudal Era.

There were passages written in the journal that did cover what Souta had originally thought would be inside; Kagome's romantic thoughts and memories of her friends from her school days. But this other material was _much_ more interesting to read. Having wondered for some time, he was finally privy to what his sister had been up to and some of the people she'd met.

"I never imagined this!" Souta softly exclaimed, increasingly engrossed in her words as he read on.

 _Battling demons and monsters_? _Helping strangers exorcize demons_? _Collecting Shikon Jewel shards_? His eyes went even wider when reading one entry, so awed by the fact.

"What the-? Inuyasha has a half-brother named Sesshomaru?!" He gasped. That fact just blew his mind. Sure, he had childish ideas and vague notions to what his sister might have been doing all that time, but never in his wildest dreams could he have conceived of her doing all this!

Some of the passages he read were dark in nature, how she and her friends confronted great evil and peril. Kagome recounted her thoughts and experiences as a priestess who had great spiritual power and how she used that power to help others as well as save her friends from danger.

 _Kagome? Having spiritual powers? That's new to me_. Souta never imagined his sister had such abilities within her. She was just his big sister, nothing more. But this discovery brought him so much closer to Kagome, learning more about who his sister really was.

He also read about her traveling companions over there, a demon-slayer named Sango, a monk named Miroku and, to Souta's disbelief, a genuine _kitsune-youki_ named Shippou. His jaw fell open when reading this. _Kitsune-youki_ were mythical creatures, the stuff of folklore and old stories about the ancient times of their country. They were her best friends and, along with Inuyasha, would travel together and battle demons of all kinds. After reading this he had to put the journal down, aware that he'd end up staying awake all night reading it because it was all just too incredible to believe.

The first week back at school proved to be tougher on Souta then he'd first thought. Many of his school friends asked about his sister and where she was. Souta kept up with the story his mom had come up with back in July and just kept repeating it. By Friday afternoon he was tired of reiterating it and was glad the week was over. He stepped off the train at his stop with some of the other kids from his school and headed up the hill towards home, only to be called out again by someone in the crowd.

"Hey, Higurashi- _san_!" He turned around to see two guys he knew who were a grade or two ahead of him in school hurrying up to where he was waiting.

"Oh, hey guys." Souta answered, pretty sure what they were going to ask about. They caught up with him and walked along side Souta.

"You've got a pretty sister, right?" Kenichi asked. Souta looked on ahead with a rather blank expression on his face.

"Maybe you could introduce us to her sometime?" Masahiro added, not waiting for an answer.

Souta sighed and repeated the same story for the umpteenth time this week. "She's not around. She got married right after high-school graduation and moved away to America." This surprised his schoolmates.

"That fast?" Kenichi was incredulous.

"Is she some kind of delinquent?" Masahiro thought it rather rash to up and leave so soon after graduation. Souta ignored the comment.

"Oh, hey grandpa!" Souta saw the eldest member of his family waiting for him at the bottom of the staircase, below the lowest gate. He hurried over to him, eager to hear the news. "How'd your check up go?"

The old man only shrugged slightly. "Just a case of elevated uric acid levels, but that's all." Souta went to his grandfather's side to help him up the long staircase. He spotted his mom waiting at the top for them.

"Welcome home, dear. Supper is almost ready," she called, wanting her son and her father to eat while the food was still hot. Souta turned to wave to his friends as they went on by.

"By Souta! Check you later!" Kenichi and Masahiro waved back, heading on up the street past the Higurashi shrine. Arriving back in their house, Mai was curious to hear how her son's week had gone. He'd been pretty quiet overall.

"So, how'd the week go for you, Souta?" Mai began laying out the placemats on the table and putting out the bowls. Souta plopped his school bag by the door of his room, loosing his burden from his tired shoulder. Only a week back at school and already he had enough homework to keep him busy all weekend.

"Okay, I guess. Asami ended up in the classroom next to mine and Sayumi is sitting right behind me this year," Souta explained. "I kept getting texts and IMs from some of Kagome's friends all day. After answering them for a while, I just sent out a mass text form letter informing them all of what happened and asked them to stop texting me."

"I'm sure that'll end soon, dear. They're just wondering what happened to her, that's all." Mai brought the evening's meal to the table as Souta arranged the bowls at each of their places. Souta sighed.

"I know. It just doesn't make getting over her leaving any easier." They sat at the dining room table and ate together, like always. Souta tried to keep the conversation on anything other than his sister. Grandfather could at least keep the mood light by telling his grandson how he disliked going to the doctor and having what he thought were 'quacks' poking and prodding at his body.

When he had the time away from his studies and his activities, Souta would sit either by the Bone Eater's well or at the foot of the _Go-Shinboku_ and read the journal, digesting all that his sister had written. He would imagine the sound of her voice in his head when reading the passages. On quiet afternoons while sitting by the well, he would ask questions aloud about what he was reading, thinking that maybe she could hear him on the other side of the well.

"Hey Kagome," He said, scratching his head in wonder at reading a series of paragraphs about something called a wolf-demon. "Who was this Kouga guy and why was he yelling that he loved you in front of your friends?" He knew there wasn't an answer coming, but just thinking that maybe she could hear him made her feel less far away.

As the green leaves on the trees began to change and turn to many shades of red, yellow and brown at the approach of Autumn, Souta thought of a way to honor Kagome by as her birthday was approaching. He tried to think positive about the coming special day of hers. Wanting to believe that his sister was alive and well, just living 'far away' from them. But sometimes, he believed that she and Inuyasha were long dead and gone, having lived five hundred years in their country's past. It didn't make remembering easier.

Besides, with the new school year moving along, he already had a few questions about girls he sure could've used help getting answers to. They'd been pretty close for a brother and sister and, being the romantic type she was, Kagome would always offer help when it came to questions about girls.

Kagome's birthday fell on a Saturday this year so Souta got up early that morning and went out to the Bone Eater's well. He brought a candle and an incense stick to burn as he sat offering his prayers to his sister. In the quiet solitude of the well's outbuilding he wished good health and happiness for Kagome and her family. Souta spent most of the morning and afternoon by the well, reflecting on his sister and wondering how she was getting on in her new life as he passed some of the time rereading the journal. He put the journal down after a while and stood by the well's ledge.

"Hello Kagome. How are you doing? I hope you Inuyasha and you are doing okay over there." Souta spoke quietly, wanting his words to reach her though the well to the other side. "I just wanted to let you know we're doing okay over here and that we love and miss you."

Souta leaned over the edge of the well more to look down into the darkness, wondering about his sister and her husband. He was pretty sure that Inuyasha would protect her and keep her safe. But that dark cloud of doubt began to creep into his thoughts, seeping in through the cracks of questioning and uneasiness.

 _What if she was hurt_? _What if she was in danger_? His imagination began to run away with him as he thought of his sister in some kind of peril that she could not escape. The worry and fear for her safety began to gnaw away at his assurance. Souta felt his chin quiver a little as the tears of grief for his missing sister's loss threatened to creep out from under his eyes. He tried to blink them away, ashamed to feel this way.

 _You big cry baby_! _Still crying for your sister like that_?! _What a helpless little weakling_! _Why don't you grow up and be a man_! He viciously scolded himself for crying. But he could not help but feel like that. Family was family, and there was no replacing Kagome. He was going to have to grow up without her around anymore.

He thought back in remembrance of the happy times they had shared as a family and what he'd learned from Kagome …

"Kagome! Souta! We're leaving now," Mai called to her children from the bottom of the staircase, wondering what was taking them so long.

"Okay, mom! We'll be right down!" Her daughter answered back brightly from somewhere upstairs.

Kagome knelt down in front of her six-year-old brother as he sat on her bed, ready to help him. She remembered how hard this could be to learn, but he had to do it himself sometime.

"C'mon, Souta. You can do it. Just try again," she encouraged with a smile, wanting her brother to succeed.

"I can't, Kagome!" Souta whined a little, frustrated from so many failed attempts. "Can't you just do it for me? We have to go, mom's waiting downstairs." He dangled his foot at his twelve-year-old sister, his shoe flopping around, untied.

"Yes you can. You just have to try again. You're old enough to learn." But after six tries of getting them tied, he was ready to just give up on ever being able to do it.

"I can't get the knot right. It's too hard to do." He whined a little more, just wishing she'd do this for him so they could go already.

"Souta," Kagome began with a more serious look on her face now. "You have to learn. I'm not going to be around to help you forever. You have to be a grown up and do things for yourself at some point." He looked so downcast at her words, feeling incapable of ever doing anything right. Seeing her brother so disheartened at doing what should be so easy to do, she reached out to pat his leg and smiled again.

"Just try again, for your big sister."

He sighed, almost resigned to yet another failure. "Okay." Souta did like she had taught him again. Up and over with the two laces, wrap around his finger and pull them apart. To his utter amazement, the knot was done, the two bows of shoe lace made the knot correctly and his shoe was finally tied. His eyes brightened and Kagome gasped in delight.

"You did it! Now do it again with your other shoe!" Her smile grew at her brother's success. With his tongue sticking out in intense concentration, Souta tore into his other shoe, feeling more confident this time. Up and over, wrap around the finger and then pull the two loops away. Success! He'd repeated his shoe-tying skill and had done it all on his own.

"See? I knew you could do it, Souta! You tied your own shoes with out anyone's help." She clapped and gave him a little hug as a reward for doing this; glad to have been the one to show him how. He was grinning from ear to ear from reaching this small but significant milestone in growing up.

"Thanks, Kagome!" He was happy to have a sister like her who cared about him and was so supportive.

"Hey, it's what big sisters are for. Let's go, mom and grandpa are waiting downstairs." She took hold of his hand and they hurried out of her room and down the stairs to where the adults were waiting.

Mai smiled at seeing her two children dressed in their nice clothes this Sunday for their grandfather's birthday dinner. She had a camera ready to take a picture of them before leaving.

"What was the hold up? Any problems getting ready?" Mai asked, seeing her son and daughter smiling.

"Souta tied his shoes all by himself this time!" Kagome announced proudly. Mai saw how her son beaming with pride.

"Really?" Mai was happy to hear the news.

"Yup! Kagome taught me and I finally got it right." Souta's pride was hard to miss. He felt on top of the world, as if there was nothing he couldn't do now.

"I'm very happy for you, Souta." She was glad to hear of her youngest child's success. The two of them stood close together as their mom snapped a photo of them, smiling happily.

"We don't have a lot of time. The train we need to catch is in less then twenty minutes." Mai's father warned, not wanting to be late to his own birthday dinner.

Mai handed her children their light windbreaker jackets to wear as they headed out the door. She watched as her son and daughter walked together towards the staircase of the shrine, Kagome putting her arm around her brother's shoulder in sisterly love. Souta leaned his head against her body, as if to say he loved her too as they neared the upper gate of the shrine. Mai felt so blessed to have such supportive and caring children.

"What are you looking at, my dear?" He asked, seeing the content look on his daughter's face. Mai waved it off, snapping back into the here and now.

"Oh, it's nothing, Father. We'd best get going." She followed after Kagome and Souta as they waited under the shrine's gate.

…Souta could never forget that special day when he learned the lesson his sister had taught him. That was the first time he really felt close to Kagome and knew she loved and cared for him as his sister.

"Oh, _Neechan_ …!" His expression twisted from the pain of missing Kagome. The tears escaped, falling down into the dark oblivion of the well. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his sleeve, not proud to have cried. He thought he'd gotten over the hurt by now.

"I just wish I could see her again!" He confessed, sniffing back his runny nose. Souta would do anything to just see his sister once more. Quite unexpectedly, Souta felt a soft breeze waft up from the well's dark bottom and brush across his cheek, getting his attention away from his thoughts. He turned to look down into the well and saw a strange swirling white mist, like a low dense fog, grow and swirl at the bottom.

 _Where did that mist come from_? He wondered about the peculiar site. _The well has never done that before._


	4. Remembering Days Gone By

Ch. 3 "Remembering Days gone By."

Kagome absentmindedly poked at the cooking fire in front of her with the metal poker in her hand, her thoughts seemingly far away right then. The eggs boiling away in the pot she was preparing for breakfast were not yet ready and the rice still had to be steamed as well. She remembered that today or at least one of these recent days, was her birthday and it was the first one she was having without her family.

She shifted her body into another sitting position. Her leg had fallen asleep from sitting on it for the past five minutes or so. Being four-months pregnant was now starting to get in the way of her mobility, doing her routine chores around the hut and her duties in the village. She didn't like being so encumbered and having to rely on Lady Kaede, her mentor and teacher, to pick up the slack of work because she was now with child. Not to mention the morning sickness, having only to sleep on her back and other related issues of pregnancy.

But it was the price she was willing to pay in order to have a family. Many of the other wives in the village gave her much sympathy and support in any way they could. Kagome appreciated this to no end, but in her heart, she knew who she wanted to share this with the most and get support from. But she couldn't.

In stepped her mate from outside their hut, returning from the well with more water for cooking. When she smiled at him, he could see her expression was tinged with some unspoken sadness.

"Is something wrong, Kagome?" he queried, putting down the water jugs by the fire. "Are you upset at me?" He sat near her, wondering what was causing her to look they was she was. He reached out to hold her free hand in his, hoping it wasn't serious.

"No, Inuyasha. I'm not upset at you." She again poked at the fire and smiled wanly.

"Then what is it?" He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, still seeing the far away look in her eyes, wanting to know what was bothering her.

Kagome really didn't want to say. She wondered if she should tell him at all. He didn't deserve to hear her complain or whine as she'd not talked about it since returning to the feudal era to stay with him and become his mate.

 _I should tell him. I shouldn't make him guess or question himself like this_. She thought to herself and then relented in telling him with a small sigh.

"When I came to stay with you, I left my family very abruptly," she had to think carefully of what to say, not wanting to sound put off or unhappy.

"And?" Inuyasha waited for her to continue.

"I was standing there with my mother when I saw the light come from within the well. I quickly said goodbye to my mother and left. I never…" her words trailed off again. She wasn't sure if she should bother him with the news or not. It was her decision then, she had to live with it and the consequences of having made her choice.

"You never _what_ , Kagome?" He insisted, confused by this hesitation of hers. What was so hard for her to talk about? They trusted one another with anything. It was something obviously distressing to her, that much he could tell.

"...I never said goodbye to my brother or my grandfather before leaving. Souta wasn't even home when I left. I wonder sometimes how he took the news that day." A pang of guilt touched her voice.

"Oh." He said quietly, looking down at the wood floor, picking a little at the _tatami_ mat with his clawed index finger. An odd bit of silence fell between them.

"Do you regret coming to stay here with me?" A bit of fear crept in his voice when asking.

For a moment, Kagome was surprised. After all they'd been through, did he think she'd leave him or regret being here with him? But Kagome understood him well and only smiled at what he said.

"Of course not! I love you, Inuyasha. We're starting our family, our _lives_ together. We are as one now, as we were destined to be." She assured him, returning the gentile hold on his hand. Kagome was pleased to see she got him to smile again.

"I guess." He paused as he tried to think of the right words to say. "You love your family a lot. They're pretty important to you, aren't they?"

"Yes, they are." She moved her hand to his cheek, gently lifting his face to look at her. Inuyasha always had trouble looking right in her eyes at 'soft' moments like this. It made him feel weird; as if she were looking right through him. He felt vulnerable and naked. Sometimes he didn't like it, feeling so exposed to her 'womanly' perceptions. Kagome was speaking from her heart.

"But, you are my family too. I love you and wanted to be with you. I wanted us to have a life together." The way she looked at him, so deep and so full of love, made Inuyasha feel small at having doubted Kagome's love and loyalty. He couldn't help it. It was still part of him to feel guarded so much, though she had done much to heal his heart of that tendency.

Inuyasha thought about what she had said, about family. He felt a little envy about Kagome and her family. He had seen their love and support for Kagome all those times and how welcome they made him feel in their home. And he did feel a pang of regret, though never to admit it out loud, at the thought of never seeing her younger brother again. Souta was a plucky kid and liked Kagome's 'punk boyfriend' whenever Inuyasha came to visit.

"It's just that as much as you are a part of me and I a part of you, my family is still a part of me too. I could no more divorce them from my heart than I could you." Kagome hoped he would understand.

Inuyasha had to think about Kagome's words, aware she knew a lot about stuff like this. He didn't really understand her relationship with her family. They seemed so close. Inuyasha felt he had nothing to draw from of his family; a missing father he never knew, a mother whom he'd lost when he was very young and a half-brother who to this day despised him. What was that to compare to where Kagome had come from?

"What's it like, Kagome?" He looked up at her, his eyes a little wider. She looked back at him, unsure of his meaning.

"What's what like?"

He sighed a little. "What's it like to have a family that loves and cares about you; to have a brother who actually likes you and wants to be seen with you?" he asked softly, wondering what it felt like to be accepted. Kagome put down the fire poker and slid closer to him; putting his arms around her body and having him hold her, laying her head back on his shoulder.

"A loving family feels like this," she explained. Inuyasha smiled a little at the explanation, but his question went deeper then that. He opened the door a little more to let her inside his heart.

"No. I mean," He struggled to find the words to make it come out right. It was hard for him to talk about family like this. "You and your family were pretty close, right?" Kagome nodded.

"We always were. We kind of understood each other pretty easily." Kagome saw his expression change, as if he were looking back at some distant moment in the past. His eyes seemed deep and far away as he began to talk.

"I don't remember much of my mother," he confessed, surprising Kagome by this sudden openness. Maybe he was feeling more comfortable now with trusting her with feelings he'd held inside for so long.

"I was so little when she was taken from me." His voice became quieter when talking about this subject, leaning his head against hers. Kagome rubbed his arms, showing her support for him and want of him to confide in her, wanting his trust with matters of his heart.

"Sometimes I'm afraid I'll forget what it felt like to be held by her, what the sound of her voice was like. How it felt…" He tried to say more but couldn't. It was still too painful to recall the memories. Kagome could sense this was very hard for Inuyasha. She pulled his arms around her a little more tightly. She didn't want him to feel sad. She knew where he was coming from.

"Don't be afraid, Inuyasha. So long as her love is in your heart and she in your prayers, your mom will never be forgotten by you," Kagome assured him, wanting him to feel safe in his new life with her. She wasn't trying to replace his mother, as perhaps he might have felt she was. He was trying to find that place of balance of love for this first woman in his life and his chosen woman for the rest of his life.

He looked down into his mate's eyes, so full of understanding and compassion for his moment of uncertainty. She gave him a small kiss on his cheek, thanking him for letting her inside on how he was feeling. He lowered his hands lower onto the growing bulge in her abdomen, wondering about the approaching change to their lives. In less then six months, they would have a new born child to look over. She smiled at him, sensing he was wondering about their coming newborn baby.

"Are you excited?" She grinned, sure that he was but just wanting to hear it from him. Kagome saw his eyes dart back and forth, as if trying to come up with something clever to say.

"Yes," he confessed innocently and could not help but let a little laugh escape him in thinking about it, wondering about the miracle growing in his mate's body. Kagome decided to have a bit of fun with him.

"Scared?" She teased a little. His eyes first went wider and then narrowed, as if insulted to hear her suggest such a notion of him being scared of a baby.

"Keh! Foolish woman! I? Scared of having a child? You must be mad!" He played up his disgusted notion of being afraid of having a family. She knew he was just kidding about being insulted.

"If you had any brains, you'd be scared!" She teased more with a mischievous grin. He laughed a little at her insult.

"Guess I'm just too thick-headed to be scared, right?" He released her from his embrace, letting her sit up and take care of their breakfast. The mood in the hut lifted as each now feeling more secure in their love. Kagome took out the eggs and set the steamer on top of the boiling water to cook the rice along with the _nori_ she'd prepped the other morning.

No sooner had they started eating did a gentle knock sound at the entranceway. "Kagome? Inuyasha? Are you awake?" A voice called out to them from the other side of the hanging reed screen that was their door.

"We're awake, Shippou. Come in," Kagome answered, giving Inuyasha a second helping of rice and fish. In stepped the _kitsune_ , holding a piece of rice parchment in one hand.

"Sorry to interrupt your breakfast," Shippou apologized, seeing the two friends of his in the middle of their morning meal.

"No problem, Shippou. What's up?" Kagome set the kettle on the fire to brew some tea.

"A rider just came to the village and handed Kaede this letter. She was asked to give it to the demon-slayers who lived here, then left in a hurry." Shippou handed the message to Kagome, aware that she was the smartest one of his friends and could read better then any of them, including Miroku.

"What's it say, Kagome?" Inuyasha mumbled, his mouth still half-full of food.

"It's a request for you and Miroku to come as soon as possible to that village you were at ten days ago. Apparently the demon you two had slain was not the only one. The village is still in need of help in eliminating them." Kagome explained.

"Damn it all! I knew it was too easy to kill the one we did. We should have known there were more." Inuyasha snarled, annoyed. He finished off his fish and shoveled the last bit of rice into his mouth, wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand.

"Well, I guess Miroku and me have a job to do. I'll go get him and get moving. I don't want this to take all day." The dog-demon took up his sword, _Tessaiga_ , and headed for the door, Shippou following right behind him.

"Be careful, Inuyasha." Kagome told him and he looked back at his mate, a sure smile on his face in knowing he would be okay.

"Hey, I'm always careful, now that I've got something to be careful for." He winked at her. She smiled; assured he would be back soon. Shippou looked up at the dog-demon, unsure what Inuyasha was talking about.

"Huh?" He asked, confused.

"Never mind, Shippou. You're too little to understand." Inuyasha waved off the little fox-demon's question. "C'mon. Let's go find Miroku and get going." Inuyasha left the hut with the fox-demon behind him to search for Miroku. Kagome sat alone in the hut to finish her meal. She sighed a little, spending yet another day without Inuyasha and readying herself for today's duty.

Once done with the morning's meal, Kagome took up her basket to use in getting her food stocks for the next few days from the storage hut. Kaede would be watching the youngest children of the village families today as she and Kagome alternated days in this duty. This allowed each of them some time away from child-sitting to tend to their own needs. The parents and older siblings of those who she and Lady Kaede watched over would work the fields and help maintain the village grounds while the youngsters were with them.

She met up with Sango and her children shortly after setting out, the precarious young twins chatting and carrying on like all three-year-olds did. Kagome wondered to herself how Sango managed to keep them in order and maintain her home as well as she did. To Kagome, it seemed like such a handful of work, remembering how hard enough it was back in her native time for parents to raise a family. But here in the Feudal era, it seemed nearly impossible.

"Miroku said that he and Inuyasha would be back before sundown today." Sango shifted the weight of the pack on her back as she carried her youngest child in it.

"I guess we still have a little time to sit and talk after we get done today." Kagome lugged the basket full of food in her arms, carrying both hers and Sango's supply.

"Yes, it has been busy for us too lately. How are you holding up, Kagome? Any problems?" Sango asked, aware this was her friend's first child and wanting to be sure she was not overdoing her workload.

"A little morning sickness still and my clothes are starting to get too small for me to wear. But overall, I guess I'm doing okay. I'm just a little nervous about it all," she confessed, not wanting to deny she was scared.

"I know what you mean. I was pretty nervous when I was with the twins. It's only natural to be a little worried the first time, but it usually gets easier with each pregnancy. You'll see." Sango assured her friend.

"Let's just get through the first one before I think about having a second child!" Kagome chuckled.

"So," Sango said in a teasing voice as they walked along. "What do you think you're having; a boy or a girl?" She nudged Kagome with an elbow.

"At this point I'm not even thinking about that. I just want our baby to be born healthy. That's all."

"What does Inuyasha say? I can only guess what his preference is. He's not any different then Miroku or any of the other men of the village. They always want a son," Sango joked. It was probably true enough, but he'd not said anything to her about it. He was too excited to care about that. At least that's what Kagome felt in her heart.

She and Sango parted to tend to their respective duties. Kagome had gathered the food she needed, collected more firewood for cooking and seen to several of her neighbors who needed medical attention for injuries.

They were very grateful for her gentle tending and offered her what they could in repayment for her kindness. Many of the wives of the village offered all sorts of advice for her about pregnancy and how best to get though the difficult days ahead. The high point of Kagome's day came in the early afternoon when she and Kaede switched places and Kagome could spend time teaching the children how to read and write. She felt it was her duty to share her knowledge and teach them how to do more than just read their names and a few words. Being from the twenty-first century, Kagome understood the power of education and felt if they knew more than just the most basic words, they would go further with their lives if they so choose to.

The sun dipped lower in the sky, afternoon ending as the moms and dads came to collect their young children and head for their homes. Freed up from her duty, Kagome again headed out to the field where the Bone Eater's well resided. She had done several times over the past few days. By the change in the color of leaves on the trees and how much had fallen off already, she could guess about what time of the season it was. It was close to her birthday and it would be the first one she would celebrate without her immediate family.

Standing partially concealed by the branches that bizarrely grew out of the wood itself was the well. Kagome wondered about the strange living branches that sprouted from the wood the Bone Eater's well was made from. The leaves on these little branches were as green as the first time she'd seen them sprout. The well had done this within a few days of her arrival and she had no idea why it happening. She pulled back on the overgrowth to look down into the dark well, wondering about her family on the other side.

 _I'm pretty sure they're all okay. Souta's probably doing fine in school, he's bright enough. Mom and Grandpa are probably fine too. But…_

Kagome felt a twinge in her heart. She wondered if she'd been too hasty in running off to be with Inuyasha like she had, dropping everything and leaving like a lovesick teenager. She'd tried to make herself believe that she was strong enough on her own, that she didn't need her family to prop her up.

For those three years apart, Kagome had believed all she needed was Inuyasha, that he was the solution to that 'glass-half-empty' feeling when she couldn't see him. But now it felt more like 'glass-half-full' from missing her family. Being only with her family or only with Inuyasha? Neither piece alone could fill the space in Kagome's heart.

She looked down the dark well and thought of recent times when she was home in her native twenty-first century time…

Kagome flopped down face-first on her bed with an exhausted grunt, her bag thumping to the floor from its hefty weight, home at last after the wreck of a day she'd had at school. It was a nightmare. She didn't understand a single thing being taught in her math or science classes, she'd missed reading the book she was supposed to have read for literacy class. The only thing that made the day remotely passable was she was in gym class with her friends for a little while. The rest of the day she could have done without.

 _I don't know what I'm going to do! I've missed so much school, I can't even think about going back to rejoin Inuyasha and the others now. I'll flunk out of school for sure if I don't catch up._

She thought of Inuyasha sitting by the well, waiting impatiently for her to return from her world to take up the fight against Naraku and his minions once more. They'd gotten into a real scrapper of a fight with Kagura that ended up with her wolf-demon friend, Kouga, nearly loosing his arm in the fight. Being away meant her friends would have to wait, and that was something she didn't want to do.

 _Argh! If there was only some way to get caught up on my work, I wouldn't be so stressed right now_! Kagome was so far behind in her studies that it would take a month just to catch up with the missing work. A knock came at her bedroom door.

"Hey, Kagome, are you in there?" her brother Souta asked from the other side of the door.

"Not now, Souta. I'm too tired and I still have to get my assignments from Eri and Youka. Come back later," she groused, not wanting to be bothered right now.

"I think you'll like what I have for you!" he teased, his sing-song tone grating on her nerves. Kagome actually growled a little, sure it was something dumb and childish he had to show her. She got up off her bed to chase him away. She threw open the door, half-expecting him to throw a rubber mouse or something like that in an attempt to scare her.

"Okay Souta, what's so important that you have…?" She stopped when from behind his back Souta produced the lab assignments from her science class, the homework assignments from her math and history classes as well as the Cliff Notes book of her assigned reading. Not to mention a pile of class notes copied from her friends notebooks for her as well.

"Here. I thought you might need these to help you study," he offered innocently. Kagome scanned through the pile, realizing he'd gotten for her all the notes and assignments she'd been missing since she left for Inuyasha's time. He had gone to all her friends and made photocopies of the notes and gotten the homework assignments from her teachers too. Kagome blinked, stunned by the effort her little brother had made in getting her prepared for when she did come back home.

"Souta, did you get all this for me?" She was genuinely surprised by his willingness to help her so selflessly.

"Yeah. After I got out of school, I hopped over to your school and got the stuff you needed to catch up with," Souta explained with a grin. "I think I came up with some pretty good explanations on why you were out of school so often too. None of your teachers questioned me when I did."

Kagome again flipped though the pile, seeing every page was numbered, in order of issue date and due date. The notes copied from her friends' notebooks were all numbered as well and had several worked out examples for her to study from. She almost couldn't believe it. He had gotten everything she thought she was missing for her and had done it all on his own initiative! She suddenly felt a little bad for having been annoyed.

" _Soo-chan_ , thanks so much! You don't know how much of help this was for me!" She hugged him, glad to have such a great little brother who looked out for her like he did. "Is there anything I can do to repay you for this? Anything at all?" Kagome's offer was in earnest. What could she do to make it up to him?

"Well," Souta sheepishly looked down at the hallway carpet, almost too embarrassed to ask. He was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to make it happen. "I was wondering if maybe, you know, you'd be able to get Inuyasha to visit again." Kagome saw how her brother couldn't really look at her in the eyes when admitting to his admiration of Inuyasha. She smiled, seeing how Souta was so enamored with Inuyasha after meeting him only a few times.

"You like him, huh?" she teased with a sly grin, pretty sure that Inuyasha had won her brother over as his new hero.

"Mm hmm! He's cool!" Souta gushed, looking up at his big sister. After witnessing Inuyasha in action that night when their grandfather's Noh mask had come to life and seeing Inuyasha destroy it with _Tessaiga_ , Souta was in absolute awe of her friend.

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't make any promises. You know Inuyasha can be pretty stubborn." It wasn't a promise, but that didn't matter to Souta. So long as there was a chance to see Inuyasha again, it was all worth the effort to get her assignments collected and ready for when Kagome returned home.

Later at dinner, Kagome spoke briefly of the recent adventure she'd shared with her friends back in the feudal era. Her mom and grandfather listened to her story, enthralled. They were glad to have her home again, even if it was most likely for only a little while before she'd be off once more.

"Why don't you ask Inuyasha to come for dinner again, Kagome? He seemed like such a nice boy and is always welcome here." Her mom spoke warmly, thinking it would be nice to have her daughter's 'boyfriend' over for a good meal.

"Thanks for making him feel welcome, mom. I know he appreciates it, even if he doesn't say so." Kagome was happy her mom had made Inuyasha feel at home, aware her good friend had had a tough upbringing and had spent so much of his growing up years alone. He distrusted a lot of people but knew this was a welcome place for him to stay if he chose.

…those moments back home, how she missed her family and how they were still so much a part of who she was. She clasped a hand over her mouth, shutting her eyes as the homesickness she'd tried to bury under the veneer of 'priestess' now welled up inside of her. How she must have hurt them by her sudden departure with such disregard to their feelings. Kagome suddenly remembered that she'd never followed up with Souta's request; she never bothered to ask Inuyasha to visit her family one more time. Being so wrapped up in her duel life of student and adventure-seeker, it had escaped her memory to do so. It made the prick of pain in her heart hurt a little deeper remembering this now.

Kagome felt the tears of missing her family escape from under her eyes and fall away, disappearing down into the darkness of the well as her head fell forward. She braced herself with one hand by holding onto the ledge of the well.

"I just wish I could see them again!" She was finally admitting it to herself, having tried to lock it away in her heart over the past months. No sooner has she acknowledged that truth, a faint wafting breeze suddenly came up from the well's dark interior. At first Kagome thought she was imagining it. But the breeze was gently causing the leaves of the over-growth to sway. It wasn't her imagination. She quickly pulled the foliage aside, anxious to see what was causing this movement.

Souta looked down into the well, seeing a strange light emanating from down there through the mist as the cloudy obscurity parted, revealing some odd shapes moving around. He could see a hand, no, two hands moving whatever was blocking the light out of the way. His heart began to pound in his chest.

Suddenly, a female face appeared against the backdrop of blue sky looking right at him from the other side of the well. It was Kagome! The two siblings locked eyes, shocked to see one another after so much time. Both had smiles that grew from ear to ear at spotting the other looking back.

"Souta!" Kagome shouted, waving at him.

"Kagome! _Onechan_!" Souta shouted, returning the wave. He looked right at her. Her mouth was moving but he heard no sound.

"Souta! Can you hear me?" she called, wondering.

"I can't hear you!" He pointed to his ears and shook his head. Kagome nodded back.

"Wait there! I'll be right back!" He briefly held up one finger and then hurried away, running frantically back to the house to get the biggest pad of paper he could find and a thick black marker to write with.

 _Don't leave, Souta_! She silently begged him to come back, afraid that whatever caused this window to open to her old life might quickly close up. After what seemed like an incredibly long time, he reappeared in the well's opening, holding a pad of paper. Quickly, he began to write then turned over the pad to show it to her.

 _Are you alright_? He'd scribbled out, looking at her with a worried expression. Kagome thought it so sweet that the first thing he wanted to know was if she was okay.

She nodded back. "Yes!" she called to him. Souta quickly scribbled another question.

 _How's Inuyasha_?

She nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. "Let mom know I'm pregnant!" She could see that Souta didn't understand what she was saying as he shrugged and put up his hands.

"I'm pregnant!" She repeated.

Souta watched Kagome silently mouth her words, her expression desperate for him to understand. It must be important. He scratched out another message with the marker and pad.

 _What?_

His _kanji_ filled the page. He turned the pad over to show his message, getting Kagome's attention, seeing her read it.

Kagome was almost frantic. She needed him to understand. She hopped up on the ledge of the well to sit, making sure he could see her profile. Kagome pointed to her bulging belly. She looked down at him, seeing his eyes go wide. She got off the ledge of the well, watching him write franticly.

 _You're pregnant_?! He'd scrawled out, shock and delight on his face.

"Yes!" Kagome shouted, smiling and nodding back at him. She could see him jump up and down, throwing a victory fist in the air in triumph. He scribbled on the pad again, turning it over to show her once more.

 _When_? Souta was smiling broader then before in happiness for his sister. Kagome held up five fingers, indicating five more months until the birth. Souta's heart thrilled that his sister was going to become a mom and he would soon be an uncle.

Again he scribbled his message. _Happy for you!_

"Souta? Are you out here?" He heard his mother calling from the house. Souta quickly ran to the open doorway of the shed.

"Mom! Come quick! Kagome's in the well! Kagome's in the well!" Souta shouted and then hurried back to the well, to make sure Kagome was still there.

He saw the image of his sister starting to shimmer and waver, diffusing by the returning white mist by the second.

"Hurry mom! Hurry!" Souta yelled as he began to panic at seeing the window starting to close.

"Souta!" Kagome cried as she watched her brother's face start to become blurry and obscured by the shrouding white mist.

Mai rushed to the shed that housed the well, wondering what Souta was yelling about.

"Mom, look! Kagome's down there!" He pointed. Mai hurried down the steps to her son's side but only caught a fleeting glimpse of a blurry face that was almost consumed by a strange puffy whiteness down the well shaft, and then it was gone.

"What…?" Mai wondered what she just saw, the cloud of mist dissipating all together and leaving nothing behind. "Was that Kagome down there?"

Souta leaned over the ledge to see again, finding the well had gone dark.

"It was her, mom. I swear." The tears in his eyes, once were of sadness now were of joy in having seen his sister again. He was so sure she'd make it in time to see that it was Kagome down there.

Mai turned to her son, seeing him smiling with a brighter look in his eyes. "Did she say anything?"

"I couldn't hear her, but I wrote out some yes-no questions and she told me that she and Inuyasha are doing fine. Kagome showed me that she's pregnant!" He was so happy to be able to tell their mother that she would soon be a grandmother. Mai gasped, delighted.

"Oh, that's the best thing I could hear today. I'm so happy for them." Mai was simply glowing in pride and happiness. Kagome would be a wonderful mother, and she wished them all her blessings and love.

"She said she was due in five months and I guess they must be really excited." Souta felt his heart lift, the sadness leaving his heart.

Kagome watched the window to her old life close. The mist clouding her view grew thick and the thin sapling-like limbs around her gave a brief shudder. A tremor vibrated through the structure of the well, the swirling mist fizzed away into nothing as the well reverted to its previous empty appearance.

She thought she'd seen her mother's face for just a second or two, but it was so brief of a look that Kagome wondered if she imagined it.

"It's gone!" She sighed, disappointed but at the same time, thrilled that she had gotten to share her most important news with her brother.

 _Souta will tell Mom, I'm sure of that. He looked like he was doing okay too._ Kagome felt the warmth return to her heart, knowing her family was fine and they had the news.

She stood for a minute or two longer by the well, relishing the feeling of having seen her brother again. Kagome wondered why the well suddenly revealed a window back to the world she'd come from. She had visited the well several times since coming to stay with Inuyasha, but it'd never acted like that.

Kagome still had to get started on the evening's meal and would have time to contemplate this strange development more while cooking. Returning home, she found Inuyasha was back from his outing with Miroku today. He could tell Kagome was in a better mood. She was humming to herself as she chopped up the vegetables and meat to make the stew they were having for supper.

"You seem happier." He observed her glowing look, watching her prepare their evening meal. Inuyasha slid closer to her, curious about her chipper mood. She'd been acting rather gloomy the past few days. This was a rather sudden change and he wondered what had made her more upbeat all of a sudden.

"I feel happy." Kagome looked over at him, readying the carrots with some water and a knife. "I'm happy because I'm here with you."

"Then," he paused, a bit confused by the change. "You're not sad about not seeing your family at all?" Inuyasha thought this a little odd about Kagome. Family was pretty important to her.

 _Should I tell him_? _Would it help_ _him to know_? Kagome quickly muddled over an answer and decided to let him in on what she'd experienced today.

"I went over to look at the well today while you were out." She began as she started to slide the ingredients into the bubbling broth in the pot.

"And?" He waited for her to continue, curious.

"Would you believe I actually saw my brother looking back at me from the other side of the well?" Kagome let slip some of her excitement of having seen her brother again.

"Really?" Inuyasha's interest instantly perked up at hearing Kagome had seen his number one admirer looking back from the other side of the well. He quickly tried to downplay his excitement.

"I mean, oh really now?" he play it nonchalant, but Kagome had caught the look of happiness on his face.

"I couldn't hear him but I did manage to let him know that we're doing fine and that I was due this Spring with our baby. Souta seemed really happy to know." Kagome couldn't hide her relief in being able to let her family back home know how they were doing.

"I'm glad to hear that. I know you must miss them a lot." Inuyasha smiled at his wife, happy that she was happy now. "But," an odd thought crossed his mind when she told him this news. "I thought the well was shut to your world now. How were you able to see Souta looking back from the other side?" Neither he nor Kagome had been able to pass through the well since her returning to his time, though each had tried on separate occasions.

Kagome could only shrug. "I can't explain it. I don't know how or why the well showed me what it did this time but wouldn't let us go through it like we've tried before. I guess we just have to chalk it up to one of those 'mysteries of the universe' kind of things for now."

Just knowing now that her family was aware she was with child and doing well was enough for Kagome. The homesickness she'd felt was quelled inside her for a while and she felt more relaxed and content then ever before.

"Well," Inuyasha continued. "How's Souta doing? Is he alright? Does he miss me…I mean, you?"" The half-demon was eager to know if his number one fan was doing okay.

Kagome laughed a little at him, hearing how her husband was missing her brother's admiration. A little scarlet appeared on his cheeks for having seen so eager to know. "He looked like he was doing just fine and I'm pretty sure he misses seeing his favorite hero."

"Really?" He was sincere to know and it was not lost on Kagome. She knew he secretly missed Souta's company though he denied it any time she hinted at or asked in casual passing. More than once did she catch her brother imitating Inuyasha, running around the shrine's courtyard, yelling ' _Sankontetsusou_!' and pretending to strike demons with his open hand. She thought it adorable. Inuyasha probably would've died of embarrassment at witnessing Souta's impersonation.

"Do you think the well will open again?" Inuyasha wondered if the ancient well was ever going to repeat like it had today for them. Again Kagome shrugged.

"I honestly don't know. We'll have to just wait and see." Kagome slid the chopped turnips and carrots into the stew, stirring the contents. She let him in on what she was thinking more. "I'd like to think so."

"So would I, Kagome." He confided. For now, they would be content with the small fragment of possibility as they looked forward to the future.


	5. Spirits in the Material World

Ch.3 "Spirits in the Material World."

Mai sat on the stone bench of the Shrine's courtyard, enjoying the early spring morning sun. The leaves were just starting to bud out, turning the reddish hue on the tips of branches into the faintest hint of varying green highlights. Wispy white puffs of clouds dotted the blue sky above her, the gentlest breeze rustling the limbs on the Scared Tree that towered high over the landscape. It was perfect.

A sound caught her ear from somewhere close by. It was sound of the doors of the shrine opening, its peculiar creak when moving on the ancient hinges alerting her. She glanced over to her left, to where the small staircase that lead down from the upper courtyard of the shrine to where she sat. From that plateau came forth a woman dressed in a splendid multi-layered red, pink and blue kimono. Mia watched as the person glided soundlessly down the stairs and pass by on the flagstone path only a few feet from her.

The stranger's beauty and delicate composure made Mai wonder who she was. The woman paused and turned to look right at her, a warm smile on her face with eyes that bespoke of a peace residing within. The woman bowed wordlessly to Mai, then turned away to continue her journey, pausing again at the shrine's uppermost gate to look back at her.

This stranger's eyes seemed to call to Mai and she drew up from her seat to silently follow, curious though not sure why she did so. Her guest waited for her to catch up and together they walked down the shrine's steps in respectful silence.

 _Who is she? Why do I feel like I should know her_? Mai continued to wonder about this stranger's presence here. She wanted to ask but for some reason she couldn't speak, as if she couldn't make the words form in her mouth.

At the last step of the staircase, Mai found she would have to walk on the rain-soaked ground while wearing only her house slippers on her feet. Her companion didn't stop or look back, forging on ahead.

She followed after, tromping through the wet soil and soaking her _tabi_. Mai vaguely became aware of no longer being in Tokyo city, as the sounds of the city drifted further and further away from her ears. She found herself walking through an ancient village of some kind, catching passing glimpses of the small huts dotting the landscape around them from out of the corners of her eyes. It felt like something out of a history book or movie she might have read or watched. The two women paused at a small structure with a plain bamboo reed screen door for its entrance. Mai's host calmly drew the screen back with a free hand then turned to look at her, waiting.

Instinctively, Mai stepped inside the cramped quarters of the small hut. The woman joined her, taking a step or two inside and closer to something lying before them. Mai stood aside her companion and looked down at was before her.

Sleeping on a simple _tatami_ mat, covered with green blanket, were three people; a man with long silvery-white hair, a woman and an infant swaddled in a plain white blanket between them.

 _Is that…? Could it really be…?_ She wondered in wide eyed mystification. Mai gasped a little in surprise and delight at what she saw, wondering if this truly was what she thought it was.

She longed to reach out and see if so, but that same feeling came to touch her heart, telling her that she mustn't try. She turned to her companion, seeing the look of happiness on the face of who had brought her here.

 _Please, let me see if it's so!_ Mai beseeched her host with the look in her eyes, aching to know if this was real or just an illusion. The woman's expression changed, as if in sad understanding that she too wished to reach out and see if this was real but was forbidden to do so. Then Mai understood. She realized just who was standing here with her and why she'd been brought to this place.

She glanced down at the face of the young man sleeping on the floor and then at her companion, suddenly seeing the resemblance between them. She was right. This _was_ who she thought might be. Her companion's expression changed again, in her eyes she could see the look of silent understanding Mai realized who her host was and why she was brought here.

Mai felt a joy and happiness touch her heart that it encompassed her whole body at the sight of her granddaughter for the first time. How it made her glow inside at knowing Kagome had a successful birth and had a family now.

She shut her eyes and smiled to herself, letting the happiness wash over her heart and soul like a warm wave of light, small tears of joy coming to her eyes. Mai became aware of a gentle embracing arm come around her body. Mai opened her eyes to see her guest had reached out to embrace her, smiling. Mai returned the hug, holding onto her new friend tightly and found she was actually giggling in happiness for this revelation. Her new friend laughed very softly, sighing together and sharing in the moment as they felt a happiness that was positively ethereal. Mai didn't want this moment to end. The whole universe seemed to be in perfect harmony with her.

But a persistent and annoying voice begins to grow in the background that bothers Mai during this most heartening moment. The more she wished the voice to stop the more this feeling of happiness began to fade away, the sensation of the embrace fading as well. The voice went on and on about some trivial thing it was talking about; traffic jams on the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway and Tohoku Expressway. Instructing anyone who would listen to take National Highway Route one-twenty-two to avoid the hour-long delays.

She could not ignore the voice, wishing it would go away and stop ruining her happy moment. But the more the voice went on and on, the more the feeling faded away more. Finally, Mai felt herself becoming aware of her surroundings and transcend into consciousness.

Slowly opening her eyes and blinking, Mai awoke from her rest to see she was actually in bed and had heard her alarm clock. Blinking her eyes more, she tried to clear her head from what she had dreamed. How vivid and real it felt and she reached up to check her eyes that, indeed, she had apparently wept in her sleep. She smiled in happiness, thinking what silliness to have cried tears of joy in her sleep.

"What a wonderful dream." She sighed at remembering the images, drawing back her bedding only to gasp sharply and stare wide-eyed in shock at what she saw. The socks she had gone to bed wearing were now dirty with with dried mud. Down on the floor were her house slippers, completely encrusted with dried mud.

"What the? How…?" She whispered to herself, shocked to believe what she saw. She was speechless at the sight.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch1. "Just One of Those Days…"

Inuyasha chewed another mouthful of his cold lunch, trying to make a meal of the rice ball and flakes of dried fish. Not much more than a handful of bland flavors on his sick palate as he sniffed back his runny nose that threatened to leak down over his lip.

"Stupid cold," he grumbled, annoyed at the snow around him on the ground and that had been falling all morning and afternoon.

This had not been a pleasant outing for him. Unprepared for the weather and without Miroku's company, he had to endure without any additional coverage for two days. For each of the past two nights, he'd had to find some shelter from the falling whiteness only to wake up to more on the ground then when he'd fallen asleep. Curled up tightly, he endured the cold, unwilling to let his prey escape pursuit. He'd gotten that pesky demon out of the village where it'd had been hiding and tormenting the humans who lived there. He could not fight it with so many humans around. It was too dangerous for them.

Into the cover of the falling snow the demon had tried to escape but he had its scent and had been in pursuit ever since. It was close by. He could sense its aura as he focused his own aura into a small center within his being. If he should let his powerful _youki_ be felt by his enemy, it would flee from its resting spot. Even ill and undernourished by his limited rations, he could not deny that he was excited about this hunt.

There was a thrill in the hunt he always enjoyed when taking on other demons. He would never let them escape. His order was death to any demon that would bring harm to humans in his territory. This particular demon was no great challenge for him. Having so little to do during the cold months of winter, any diversion was a welcome one. His time was spent often in solitude, keeping hidden from humans and demons alike as he traveled the countryside. He wanted none to see him come and go, like a wind passing through a grove of trees as he bounded past them in silence in the treetops or darting through the woods.

Anyone living on the plains of Musashi felt lucky to have met him or the monk that traveled in his company. Witnesses fortunate enough to have had the honor of meeting the duo told of the fiery red color of the dog-demon's garb, the strong and clear look from his amber colored eyes, the monk's cordial nature and polite tone when speaking. Young children would simply gawk in awe and wonder of seeing the local heroes in the flesh.

He was originally annoyed by the glares from the youngsters but a friend explained to him that humans would do that when in the presence of greatness. These kids were so in awe of him that they were struck dumb; they had no idea how to react to actually seeing Inuyasha in the flesh. Inuyasha had always disliked being stared at like that, as if he were some repulsive freak. But he knew now that it was looks of admiration and that made it more bearable.

He did his duty well, defeating many demons and staking out his territory. Any demon still lurking was there only by his allowance or by the demon's own foolishness. For when he would find them, he would vanquish them with great expediency.

But he was on his own this time. Miroku was home in his village, with a sick child. Inuyasha started to wonder if he and Miroku had done too good of a job, slaying all of the troublesome demons around.

He looked up at the sky, not foreseeing any break in the weather by the look of the thick gray cloud cover. "Well," he sighed to himself. "Better finish it off and head for home." He gulped down the last bite of his meal, glad this outing was coming to an end. He missed his warm home and he missed Kagome. Being away so much of the time annoyed him to no end. He resented it, though he knew his duty to protect.

Emerging from the shallow cover he had been resting under, Inuyasha drew forth _Tessaiga._ The sword transformed once released from the scabbard, appearing like a mighty fang of a blade, forged from his father's own tooth and given to Inuyasha as his inheritance. Inuyasha grinned at the sight of the awesome weapon he wielded, having mastered some of its powers and greatly increasing his strength.

"Okay Kakuratsu, time to finish this little game so I can go home to a hot meal tonight." Inuyasha was sure that this was going to be easy. He took off in a dead run, heading towards where he knew his prey was hiding. Inuyasha concentrated more, keeping his _youki_ hidden and focused tightly around his body. He wanted to take out his enemy in one shot, one swing of the blade and his work would be done.

"Damn him! That wretched dog-demon has slain them all! But he won't catch me so easily!" The weasel-demon cursed as he crawled up the hollowed inside of a fallen tree, taking refuge. His pursuer had been quite persistent in tracking him, not letting up and worse yet, gaining on him. Kakuratsu snarled at his predicament.

Finding Inuyasha without the monk's company was an unexpected chance of luck. He and his clan could ambush the dog-demon and possibly slay him. The plan had failed and now Inuyasha was after him. No demon, least of all some spindly weak weasel demon like himself, have managed to get across the plains of Musashi for months now.

With Inuyasha apparently watching the lands in the east and living among the human population and his elder half-brother, Sesshomaru, wandering unchallenged across the western provinces proved to be an impossible situation for any demon. Those who were not in the good graces of either brother were gambling with their lives.

The fox-demon and wolf-demon tribes that had existed here for centuries had not suffered the same fate as the weasel demons that tried to stand against the half-demon, but Inuyasha made certain none of them lived to see another dawn. Any demons that harassed or attack the human villages and farms in Inuyasha's territory were hunted down and exterminated. The weasel-demon believed that with enough numbers, he and his clan could take down the weaker dog-demon brother. But with one swipe of that enchanted blade, Inuyasha had slain ninety-nine of his fellow weasel demons. Kakuratsu, being the one-hundredth, had managed to escape the wave of demonic energy that wiped out his comrades.

The weasel-demon was frantic for an escape plan, anything that could help him throw off Inuyasha and allow him to slip away into the countryside. With the approaching night he knew his chances grew. It would be harder for the half-demon to track him or pick out his scent and pursue him in the dark. But Kakrratsu's thoughts were cut off by the sensation of approaching peril. The fur on his body stood on end as he felt the oncoming demonic aura heading towards him. There could only be one demon with such an aura like that.

"Damn it! He's found me!" Kakuratsu swore as he scrambled desperately out of his hiding hole, fleeing for his life. If he could just reach the uplands to the west of the plains, he would be out of Inuyasha's territory and out of potential harm. Being in the western lands was only safer than the east in that the elder son of the great dog-demon didn't bother with such lowly vermin such as himself.

Squeezing out the open end of the hollowed log, Kakuratsu grunted and squealed in desperation. He could sense Inuyasha's rapidly approaching aura, he had only a few seconds to get moving. The pudgy weasel-demon popped free from his confines, flipping end over end though the air to land with a thud on the cold wintertime earth. The furry creature scrambled to his feet, trying desperately to get traction on the slippery ground, running as fast as his stubby legs could carry him as Inuyasha's aura was nearly on top of him.

"What, did you actually think you were going to get away from me? You're even dumber than I thought!" Inuyasha boasted, leaping high up in the air to come down right in front of Kakuratsu. The weasel-demon floundered to a halt, slipping and sliding on the snow, slamming hard into Inuyasha. They crash to the ground, tumbling on the slippery surface.

"What the… _ooof_!" Inuyasha was knocked off his feet and the treacherous weasel-demon siege his advantage.

Kakuratsu sunk his fangs into Inuyasha right shoulder; his teeth pierced the _karaginu_ and _hagidashi_ , biting deep into Inuyasha's shoulder.

"Filthy bastard, let go of me!" Inuyasha roared, feeling his blood splatter on his cheek from the vicious bite. He began punching Kakuratsu in the head furiously, growling and snarling as he did.

 _I can't let go! He'll use that wretched sword on me the moment I release him!_ Kakuratsu took punch after punch, growing more dizzy and weaker with every blow. Finally, he couldn't take the beating any longer and a final strike knocked him free. Inuyasha's incredible strength sent the weasel-demon flipping through the air and crashing into to the ground face first.

Inuyasha snarled as he examined the puncture wounds made by the weasel-demon's teeth. He seemed more annoyed then in pain. "You asshole! You ripped my _kariginu_! Now I'll have to have it fixed!" Though blood was leaking from the bite, he seemed unconcerned about it as he turned his attention back to the injured weasel-demon. Inuyasha stood over his prey, expecting to hear the weasel-demo whimper and beg for mercy. Instead, he was met with the muffled snickering of Kakuratsu.

"What's so funny, rat-face?" Inuyasha stood over his opponent, _Tessaiga_ in his hand and ready to deliver the final blow.

The weasel-demon managed to looked up and actually sneer at Inuyasha. "My venom should be working its way nicely though your blood stream as we speak, rendering you immobile and easy for me to kill!"

Inuyasha brought _Tessaiga_ up over his head, ready to end this but paused for a second. Was it right? Was he underestimating his foes abilities?

 _Why hasn't he fallen under its effect yet?! It should have done something to him by now!_ Kakuratsu's mind raced, seeing that wretched dog-demon still on his feet.

Inuyasha brought the mighty weapon down on his foe. The eldritch energies emanating from the blade completely obliterated the weak weasel-demon. The weapon never actually touched the lowly creature's body.

The half-demon scoffed. "Yeah, right! Some weakling weasel-demon like you having any power?! That's a laugh!"

All that was left of Kakuratsu was a smoldering pile of ashes, staining the pure newly fallen snow with a dirty brown color and a nasty burning smell.

Inuyasha's attention turned to tending to his injury. He felt himself growing woozy and light-headed. Perhaps that weasel-demon had been telling the truth. Having this stupid cold on top of it was undoubtedly making the effects worse. He staggered back a few feet, leaning against a tree for support.

"Damn it! Maybe he did have a poisonous bite." Inuyasha snarled, annoyed that such a lowly demon as Kakuratsu had even gotten a single hit on his body.

Weasel-demons were notoriously dirty creatures and they often brought pestilence with them to the human villages where they would hide themselves.

Inuyasha felt something crawl out onto his lapel from underneath his long hair. He looked down onto his shoulder to see his vassal, Myouga the flea-demon.

"Is it safe to come out now, master?" The tiny insect squeacked, wary of the demonic vermin those weasel-demons often had festering in their fur.

"Yes."

"Phew! That's a relief. I thought we'd never get rid of-" the flea-demon smelled the scent of his master's blood. It was fresh in the air.

"Master! You're hurt!" Myouga was quick to inspect the wounds, fearing for his master's safety.

"Don't bother. It's nothing, really." Inuyasha brushed away Myoga from his shoulder wound, discarding his underling's concern, but soon he felt an annoying stinging feeling grow in his shoulder, spreading out. His head began to ache and his knees grew weaker.

"You've been poisoned!" Myouga saw the green slime pussing around Inuyasha's flesh, turning the jagged edges of torn flesh a sickly yellow color. Inuyasha's breath came a bit quicker now, the dizziness increasing. He leaned more against the tree to prop himself up.

"I think you're right. Damn those bastard weasel-demons! If I ever catch another one near that village again….!" Inuyasha growled as he felt it grow more difficult to stand up.

"You've slain the last of them as well as their clan leader. Congratulations are in order." Myouga crawled over to the biggest wound, ready to help his lord.

"This may sting a little." He warned as he stuck his proboscis deep into Inuyasha's flesh and began to draw blood. Myouga could taste the poison's bitterness in his master's blood as he drank. Fortunately, Myouga's body was immune to any poison in the blood of a victim he was drawing from.

Inuyasha waited patiently for Myouga to draw out the poison from all the wounds. The normally tiny demon insect had plumped himself up quite full of blood in drawing out the last of the poison.

"Hurry up, will ya!" Inuyasha grumbled. Though the pain of the wound was trivial to him, the sting of Myouga bite made him want to swat the flea-demon.

 _Pop_! "Done! I think I got it all." Myouga croaked, burping on his meal and falling back on his haunches. The chubby insect could barely crawl his way back over to the dangling collar thread where he could again tie his leg off to as a safety precaution. Inuyasha felt a wave of nausea wash over him and he suddenly fell forward.

"Hey, watch it now!" Myouga yelped, barely getting the line reattached in time. The sudden falling sensation catching him off-guard like that. His master dropped the sword and fell to his hand and knees.

Inuyasha spewed forth his stomach's contents, covering the remnants of the weasel-demon with the bile of his stomach. The combination of his illness and the toxic nature of the poison were wreaking havoc on his body. He felt himself shiver more, trying to fight through the toxic haze. His body could reject the poison of another demon's saliva and regenerate from suffering bite wounds in the matter of days or hours. But this weakness to something as trivial as a cold was the most annoying mystery to him.

"Master! Are you…?" Myouga began asking but was cut off by a wave of Inuyasha's hand.

"I'm fine! Damn, stupid cold! If I wasn't sick, my body wouldn't be reacting to that weasel-demon's venom!" Inuyasha snarled. Born a half-demon to his human mother and his demon father, he sometimes suffered these human ailments, to his vast annoyance.

Looking down at the puddle of vomit, he grinned ironically at it as he spat out the bad taste and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Keh! That's about all I think of that measly weasel-demon and his tribe!" The weasel-demon's ashen remains were now immersed in the bile from the dog-demon's gut.

"I could try again to get any remaining poison out." Myouga offered but Inuyasha had had enough 'help' from the plump little flea-demon for one day.

"Try it and you'll lose more than that fat gut of yours!" The dog-demon's sharp index finger and thumb claws swiftly pinned Myouga's head in a pointy vice of imminent death. He would get no other warning. Myouga gulped down his nerve and crawled back over under his lord's lapel, reattaching his safety line to one of his feet.

"Forgive me, my lord. I did not mean to overstep…" The flea-demon groveled, praying he wouldn't get squished.

"Just be quiet, will you." Inuyasha hauled himself up, using _Tessaiga_ to support his weight.

"At least now I can go home to Kagome and get out of this stupid snow." He cursed at the weather, wishing this snowfall would let up. By sheer will, Inuyasha forced his weakened body to move. The thought of Kagome waiting for him empowered his heart, driving him onward towards his home and the warmth of her embrace.

Sitting atop his master's shoulder, Myouga looked about at the picturesque forest around them, admiring the quiet stillness of the woods and chatting to his master about minor things.

'Keh! This rotten weather just makes my job that much more difficult to do. I could've been able to track Kakuratsu easier without this snow covering the ground." The half-demon grumbled.

His mind was solely focused on one thing, getting home to a hot meal, a warm bed and the soft embrace of his mate, Kagome. Myouga kept an eye on him but soon could tell by the clear look in his master's eyes that he was already recovering from the bite. Inuyasha sneezed again, the cold's effects returning to the surface of his misery.

Kagome had joked good-naturedly one night, while cuddling in bed that he, Inuyasha, son of the great dog-demon, was not really a demon at all. She believed that Inuyasha had the heart and soul of a human that was wrapped inside a powerful dog-demon's body.

He did not understand what she meant. She explained how he could've used his powers for his own selfishness but chose to use his strength to help others. Many admired his selflessness, his _humanity_ , and she loved him deeply for it. She even got him to reluctantly confess that he did feel good inside when giving of himself without being asked. Perhaps all that 'hero worship' crap she used to talk about was really right. Maybe he really did like helping others, despite his own denials.

"Ahchoo!" Inuyasha's body shuddered and he pulled his _kariginu_ in tighter around him, trying to shield his body from the blowing snow. Inuyasha snarled a little to himself, forcing himself onward. He would have loved to run home but this white sheet of falling snow made it difficult to see any distance in front of him. Running blindly through the woods and hitting every tree and rock in his path was not going to get him home quicker, just more annoyed at the weather and certainly wetter.

The pain in his shoulder was all but forgotten in his single-minded determination to get home. Myouga was talking on about some rumor of some demons to the west in Sesshomaru's territory that was making its way east, but Inuyahsa's mind was far away. The only voice in his head was Kagome's. There was nothing more important to him right now then getting home to her.

"Master, are you listening to me? I hope you…" Myoga began.

"Yeah, yeah… I'm listening." Inuyasha moaned, annoyed at the nattering voice in his ear. Onward he pushed himself.

"Master, this is serious. How can you take this so lightly?" The little flea-demon wished his young master was not ignoring him. This was important news and he'd best pay attention.

The dog-demon at least tried to pretend to show some passing interest in what Myouga had to say.

"You were saying? How many were there?"

Barely satisfied with the awareness his master displayed, Myouga soldiered on with his duty. "Like I started to explain, it happened this past autumn. There were two instances; both discovered in small villages just on the edge of the _Musashi_ plains. The shrine- keepers welcomed the visitors who were disguised as common merchants in both instances. But when their illusion was exposed they appeared like very large humans with green skin, and yellow eyes."

"So? Just a couple of giant _Oni_ causing trouble. Then what happened?"

"They summoned a great power from the very earth, causing the ground to liquefy and throw everyone in the entire village into an enormous quicksand pit. A great swirling black cloud swooped down from the sky to cover the entire village, perhaps even more. There was great panic among the humans as they were trapped and sinking. It all happened incredibly fast." The dog-demon snarled a bit as the grim tale finally captured his attention.

"The village's shrines were torn apart, right down to the soil. The dark cloud lifted shortly after and the two creatures were gone along with both priestesses." Myouga finished his report.

"How many?" Inuyasha growled, gnashing his teeth, preparing for the ugly statistics. Myouga paused, not wanting to tell him more bad news, but knew it not good to keep him waiting for an answer.

"A good number of humans perished in the quicksand, master," the flea-demon grimly recounted with a sigh, and added, "Some were children." This made Inuyasha deeply upset. He thought how unspeakably horrible if it were his mate and child had perished in the suffocating quagmire of mud.

As a father to be, such thoughts did cross his mind at moments of solitude and introspection. He saw what others had to live through and wondered what his reaction would be if it were he and Kagome who had to suffer like these people.

"I'll make sure whoever it was that killed those people and trashed their villages pay for it, Myouga! You can count on that!" Inuyasha swore. Myouga shook his head.

"But that was my point, master. They didn't come to those villages to kill humans or steal from them, as would most _Oni_. They could have slain the humans, but instead they ignored the humans." This small tidbit caught Inuyasha's attention.

"Ignored? Why?" The half-demon wondered at this. Myouga continued on.

"That's what makes this so strange. It was as if they wanted nothing to do with the humans; like they were searching for something and when they didn't find what they wanted, they simply left. Why would _Oni_ bother to disguise themselves in the first place? It doesn't make sense."

"Not good, Myouga. Not good at all…" Inuyasha murmured, returning to his daydream of having Kagome in his arms again. This was a bit too much to think about in such a weary state. He would have to give more thought when he was feeling better.


	7. The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Ch.2 "The Waiting is the Hardest Part."

"There. That should do it. Keep yourself covered with the blanket and drink lots of fluids." Kagome pulled the think blanket up close to Nisoku's chin, wanting the girl to remain covered and warm.

"Thank…you…" Nisoku weakly whispered as she held Kagome's hand briefly and tried to smile. Kagome smiled back and tucked the child's arm back under the covers.

"Go to sleep and rest yourself, young lady." Kagome quietly urged as she doused two of the candles, leaving one burning away in the corner. It seemed funny to Kagome that even in this time, kids still like to have a 'night light' on in the room to comfort them.

Sango and Miroku stood waiting by the edge of the room partition, worried and anxious about their daughter's condition. Kagome came over to talk with them. Ojin stood next to his parents and looked up at the priestess, wondering what she was going to say about his sister. Nisoku had been struck down with a very bad cold. Lady Kagome had called it pneumonia; a serious illness that can kill.

Sango had gone to get her good friend this morning. Nisoku's condition had rapidly gotten worse no matter what medicines she or her husband had administered. She needed help and knew only one person with the medicinal skills that might save Nisoku's life. Kagome looked at their faces; Sango looked like she'd break if she were to hear bad news. Miroku had a grim look of acceptance of the worst already, steeling himself so he could catch his wife, as she would undoubtedly collapse.

Sango reached out briefly for Kagome's arm, not wanting to wait another second. "Kagome," Sango gulped. "Is she…?" She couldn't get it out. Kagome smiled and tried to reassure them. "She's got it pretty bad. She managed to drink just about all the medicinal teas I gave her. She'll rest though the night okay. She needs to stay warm and drink lots of water. In a few days hopefully her appetite will come back." Kagome could see their bodies relax as the two parents breathed a huge sigh of relief. The past few days had been so taut with tension from worry, leaving nerves at their frayed ends.

"Here," Kagome handed her friend the last pack of instant chicken soup she had left that she'd had brought from her time in the future. It only needed boiling water to make and it would be easy on Nisoku's recovering stomach to digest. "Give her this when she says she's hungry again." Sango was at a loss for words. So grateful to her friend for the aid she so willingly gave freely and never asking for anything in return.

"This is the last of the medication too." Kagome handed her friend the last drop of liquid cold remedy she'd had in the first aid kit. Kagome had been saving such futuristic medicines for such situations like this. "See if tomorrow morning you can get her to take another cup of tea with the herbs and have her take the bottle medicine as well." The parents were very grateful to Kagome for the medicines she offered.

"Kagome," Sango looked at her friend with small tears of gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you so much. I don't know what we would have done without your help. If I'd waited another day…" Sango suddenly choked up; afraid at thinking what might have been her daughter's fate had she not gone sooner to get Kagome. Miroku caught his teetering wife as she momentarily shuddered in thinking of how much worse the day might have been. Miroku looked genuinely relieved.

"Please Kagome, stay with us. You don't have to go back home in this snowstorm. At least wait until it lets up some." Miroku graciously offered his home for his friend to stay. Kagome was grateful for their generosity.

"Thank you but, no, I can't stay too long. Inuyasha will be home soon. I have to make sure he's taken care of." She joked with her old friends. "But if you've got supper on, I'll gladly stay for a meal." Kagome took their hospitality in grace in at least getting out of having to make a meal.

The three good friends sat near the fire as they talked and ate, recalling recent news and sharing family moments of late. Miroku was about to leave the ladies to talk and play with his son when the topic of Kagome returning to her time came up. This got Miroku's attention. He'd wondered why she hadn't gone back in so long. It was more than six months since she'd ceased contact with her family. He sat back down to talk with them, wanting to hear more.

"But what happened, Kagome? Why can't you go back to your world?" Sango asked, seeing the distant look in her friend's eyes.

"It's the Bone Eater's well. When I came here to stay with Inuyasha, the well closed up behind me. I haven't figured out why it opened in the first place and why I can't go back." Kagome seemed disappointed and uncertain when telling her fiends this.

"When I use to use the _Shikon no Tama_ shards to return to here, the well never gave me trouble. But when I came here the last time, I didn't have the shards anymore. The well just opened and I went through."

"What about the shrine your family watches over? Surely there must be some sort of connection between the shrine from your world and the one here in the village." Miroku had wondered about this. From what he understood, the very shrine Kagome watched over here in this time was the same one on her family's property in the world she came from.

"The shrine may be the same as the one here but something has made the well not work like it used to." Kagome was at a loss.

 _The only thing I can say for sure that's the same in both places is really the Go-Shimboku. That seems to be the only constant I can see having some sort of connection to the world I come from and this one. I also don't understand why there's all that strange growth sprouting out of the wood that the well is made from. It's like that time I ran into Kikyou, when we had to fight that demon Menomaru._ Kagome tried to remember what Kikyou had said, searching for some small detail she'd maybe missed in interpreting the deceased woman's words.

" _This tree is a Tree of Ages, a connection between this world and one beyond. The well was built from the very wood of this same tree."_ The voice and image of the departed priestess emerged from the recesses of Kagome's subconscious, less omnipresent but still powerful in remembrance. It meant more then she'd understood, even then and now, to Kagome. As if the tree's existence transcended all reason for being.

They talked a bit more as Kagome collected her things, readying herself to take on the cold winter outside. She would have to think of something if her medication didn't help Nisoku get her temperature down. This was especially hard on her. This was her best friend's daughter in her care. Kagome felt such pressure not to let them down.

Yes, she did have the spiritual power within her to fight demons. But she lacked the knowledge of true priestess of this time in bringing aid and comfort to those who need it without her 'futuristic' cures. She really needed to devote more time to understanding herbs and their uses.

Being a 'full-time' priestess was something still very new to Kagome and she felt ill-prepared for the weight of the duty. Kagome pulled up the hood over her head, trying to keep the snow out of her hair. Sango handed her a small pot of stew that they gave for Inuyasha's supper.

"If we see any change in her condition, we will tell you immediately." Miroku handed Kagome her satchel and she slung it over one shoulder.

"Take care, Kagome." Sango hugged her friend briefly and watched as Kagome walked away, swallowed up by the falling snow. Sango and Miroku watched from the front of their home as Kagome disappeared into the wall of falling white flakes. Sango turned to her husband.

"Did you see the look in her eyes? She looked terrible." Sango was worried about her friend. Kagome looked so pale and drawn in her complexion. She wondered if her good friend was really fine with not being able to return to visit her family. Miroku nodded.

"Yes. She's trying very hard to keep a strong front and not show sadness. I think she misses her family a great deal." He thought back to how his friend looked months ago and how she seemed today. Miroku knew from experience when someone was trying to conceal pain and mask it with humor or indifference. Kagome was in obvious denial about something and Miroku thought he and Sango should talk a bit more with Kagome.

"I wish there's was something I could do." Sango didn't like seeing Kagome in such a state. She wanted to help.

"Just get her to talk more. Next time she visits, I'll make myself scarce so you can talk with her more." Her husband offered and Sango nodded a little.

Even if they didn't need Kagome to come back again, she would make time for another visit so they could talk. Having Kagome come back to check up on Nisoku would provide an excuse for them to have a deeper talk.


	8. Home Again

Ch.2 "The Waiting is the Hardest Part."

"There. That should do it. Keep yourself covered with the blanket and drink lots of fluids." Kagome pulled the think blanket up close to Nisoku's chin, wanting the girl to remain covered and warm.

"Thank…you…" Nisoku weakly whispered as she held Kagome's hand briefly and tried to smile. Kagome smiled back and tucked the child's arm back under the covers.

"Go to sleep and rest yourself, young lady." Kagome quietly urged as she doused two of the candles, leaving one burning away in the corner. It seemed funny to Kagome that even in this time, kids still like to have a 'night light' on in the room to comfort them.

Sango and Miroku stood waiting by the edge of the room partition, worried and anxious about their daughter's condition. Kagome came over to talk with them. Ojin stood next to his parents and looked up at the priestess, wondering what she was going to say about his sister. Nisoku had been struck down with a very bad cold. Lady Kagome had called it pneumonia; a serious illness that can kill.

Sango had gone to get her good friend this morning. Nisoku's condition had rapidly gotten worse no matter what medicines she or her husband had administered. She needed help and knew only one person with the medicinal skills that might save Nisoku's life. Kagome looked at their faces; Sango looked like she'd break if she were to hear bad news. Miroku had a grim look of acceptance of the worst already, steeling himself so he could catch his wife, as she would undoubtedly collapse.

Sango reached out briefly for Kagome's arm, not wanting to wait another second. "Kagome," Sango gulped. "Is she…?" She couldn't get it out. Kagome smiled and tried to reassure them. "She's got it pretty bad. She managed to drink just about all the medicinal teas I gave her. She'll rest though the night okay. She needs to stay warm and drink lots of water. In a few days hopefully her appetite will come back." Kagome could see their bodies relax as the two parents breathed a huge sigh of relief. The past few days had been so taut with tension from worry, leaving nerves at their frayed ends.

"Here," Kagome handed her friend the last pack of instant chicken soup she had left that she'd had brought from her time in the future. It only needed boiling water to make and it would be easy on Nisoku's recovering stomach to digest. "Give her this when she says she's hungry again." Sango was at a loss for words. So grateful to her friend for the aid she so willingly gave freely and never asking for anything in return.

"This is the last of the medication too." Kagome handed her friend the last drop of liquid cold remedy she'd had in the first aid kit. Kagome had been saving such futuristic medicines for such situations like this. "See if tomorrow morning you can get her to take another cup of tea with the herbs and have her take the bottle medicine as well." The parents were very grateful to Kagome for the medicines she offered.

"Kagome," Sango looked at her friend with small tears of gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you so much. I don't know what we would have done without your help. If I'd waited another day…" Sango suddenly choked up; afraid at thinking what might have been her daughter's fate had she not gone sooner to get Kagome. Miroku caught his teetering wife as she momentarily shuddered in thinking of how much worse the day might have been. Miroku looked genuinely relieved.

"Please Kagome, stay with us. You don't have to go back home in this snowstorm. At least wait until it lets up some." Miroku graciously offered his home for his friend to stay. Kagome was grateful for their generosity.

"Thank you but, no, I can't stay too long. Inuyasha will be home soon. I have to make sure he's taken care of." She joked with her old friends. "But if you've got supper on, I'll gladly stay for a meal." Kagome took their hospitality in grace in at least getting out of having to make a meal.

The three good friends sat near the fire as they talked and ate, recalling recent news and sharing family moments of late. Miroku was about to leave the ladies to talk and play with his son when the topic of Kagome returning to her time came up. This got Miroku's attention. He'd wondered why she hadn't gone back in so long. It was more than six months since she'd ceased contact with her family. He sat back down to talk with them, wanting to hear more.

"But what happened, Kagome? Why can't you go back to your world?" Sango asked, seeing the distant look in her friend's eyes.

"It's the Bone Eater's well. When I came here to stay with Inuyasha, the well closed up behind me. I haven't figured out why it opened in the first place and why I can't go back." Kagome seemed disappointed and uncertain when telling her fiends this.

"When I use to use the _Shikon no Tama_ shards to return to here, the well never gave me trouble. But when I came here the last time, I didn't have the shards anymore. The well just opened and I went through."

"What about the shrine your family watches over? Surely there must be some sort of connection between the shrine from your world and the one here in the village." Miroku had wondered about this. From what he understood, the very shrine Kagome watched over here in this time was the same one on her family's property in the world she came from.

"The shrine may be the same as the one here but something has made the well not work like it used to." Kagome was at a loss.

 _The only thing I can say for sure that's the same in both places is really the Go-Shimboku. That seems to be the only constant I can see having some sort of connection to the world I come from and this one. I also don't understand why there's all that strange growth sprouting out of the wood that the well is made from. It's like that time I ran into Kikyou, when we had to fight that demon Menomaru._ Kagome tried to remember what Kikyou had said, searching for some small detail she'd maybe missed in interpreting the deceased woman's words.

" _This tree is a Tree of Ages, a connection between this world and one beyond. The well was built from the very wood of this same tree."_ The voice and image of the departed priestess emerged from the recesses of Kagome's subconscious, less omnipresent but still powerful in remembrance. It meant more then she'd understood, even then and now, to Kagome. As if the tree's existence transcended all reason for being.

They talked a bit more as Kagome collected her things, readying herself to take on the cold winter outside. She would have to think of something if her medication didn't help Nisoku get her temperature down. This was especially hard on her. This was her best friend's daughter in her care. Kagome felt such pressure not to let them down.

Yes, she did have the spiritual power within her to fight demons. But she lacked the knowledge of true priestess of this time in bringing aid and comfort to those who need it without her 'futuristic' cures. She really needed to devote more time to understanding herbs and their uses.

Being a 'full-time' priestess was something still very new to Kagome and she felt ill-prepared for the weight of the duty. Kagome pulled up the hood over her head, trying to keep the snow out of her hair. Sango handed her a small pot of stew that they gave for Inuyasha's supper.

"If we see any change in her condition, we will tell you immediately." Miroku handed Kagome her satchel and she slung it over one shoulder.

"Take care, Kagome." Sango hugged her friend briefly and watched as Kagome walked away, swallowed up by the falling snow. Sango and Miroku watched from the front of their home as Kagome disappeared into the wall of falling white flakes. Sango turned to her husband.

"Did you see the look in her eyes? She looked terrible." Sango was worried about her friend. Kagome looked so pale and drawn in her complexion. She wondered if her good friend was really fine with not being able to return to visit her family. Miroku nodded.

"Yes. She's trying very hard to keep a strong front and not show sadness. I think she misses her family a great deal." He thought back to how his friend looked months ago and how she seemed today. Miroku knew from experience when someone was trying to conceal pain and mask it with humor or indifference. Kagome was in obvious denial about something and Miroku thought he and Sango should talk a bit more with Kagome.

"I wish there's was something I could do." Sango didn't like seeing Kagome in such a state. She wanted to help.

"Just get her to talk more. Next time she visits, I'll make myself scarce so you can talk with her more." Her husband offered and Sango nodded a little.

Even if they didn't need Kagome to come back again, she would make time for another visit so they could talk. Having Kagome come back to check up on Nisoku would provide an excuse for them to have a deeper talk.


	9. In Her Loving Embrace

Ch.3 "Home Again."

There seemed to be no letup in the falling snow and she hurried across the village grounds and towards her home. She gave herself a quick brush off and a shake of her head, knocking off the loose snow. Once inside, she set about getting the fire going once more, as the faint embers were all that were left of her fire from this afternoon. Fire crackling away again, she hurried about in getting the stew warmed up before Inuyasha came home.

She wanted him to come home to a warm house and a waiting meal, like usual. She'd gotten pretty use to this steady routine of hers. She knew how much time she needed and how long it would be until he returned.

Soon the fire had warmed the hut nicely and the evening's meal for Inuyasha was warmed and waiting. She checked her inventory one more time, taking an account of what she had left as well as the decimated remains of her first aid kit.

 _Wow. Not much left in here. I'd better get stocked up on more cotton wadding and some more linen cloths. I'm all out of bandages and ointments too_. She rummaged through the remnants of the first-aid pack, finding little of her once well-stocked bag now remaining.

She had picked up cooking quickly though. Inuyasha would try out her attempts at cooking. Sometimes it came out all right, sometimes not. But she was working at it.

An old left behind school textbook was her quiet time companion as she waited. It was dark out already and Inuyasha was still not home. She was stirring the pot's contents when she heard a commotion outside.

"Lord Inuyasha!" Someone from outside and not too far away had called out. Kagome hurried to the screen in her front doorway, holding up her hand to her head as she exited out into the falling snow to see who had called out.

The telltale torchlight from the villagers heading down the road told her where the cry had come from. She hurried after them, seeing her mate emerge from the darkness into the soft glow of torchlight of the villagers who'd spotted him. She saw him staggering along, obviously injured.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called to him and hurried to his side, getting him to lean on her in support. "Oh no. Your shoulder-" He tried to brush it off.

"Forget it. It's nothing." He turned away and sneezed, the force of his blast nearly knocked them into one-another. Kagome nearly caught him, laying her hand to his forehead, feeling the heat radiating from his skin. Inuyasha snorted his runny nose back, annoyed at his weaken state.

"You're a wreck, Inuyasha! Sick as a dog!" She swiftly got him home and inside the warm hut, sitting him down by the fire and examined him closer. He shook his head, shaking off the loose snow from his hair and showering everthing with water droplets around him. This part he liked most of all about coming home. Even though his body would recover quickly enough, she would dress his injuries and fuss about him. He felt the tingle in his nose again, the feeling building up in him again and-

"Ahchoo!" His body jerked, making him fall over briefly to one side. Kagome propped him back up.

"Listen to yourself! If you'd just taken my jacket like I offered you wouldn't be in this terrible shape!" She scolded lovingly. Upset that he'd gone out ill dressed in the dead of winter and not taking care of his injury like he should. "Why didn't you cover the wounds?" She peeled off his wet _karaginu_ and reached for her first aid kit.

"Keh! I don't know about all that ninja medicine you use and stuff. My body is strong enough to take it. It's this stupid cold I hate." He half-argued, enjoying her attention still. Kagome glanced up from her work, seeing him give her a sickly smile of appreciation at her nursing him like she always would. She was beginning to suspect he just wanted to be babied and have her take care of it, even if he did know what to do. She'd told him enough times how to do it.

"I think you like it too much and do it just to bug me." She suspected such. Inuyasha didn't want to upset her. He tried to change the subject.

"How are you feeling today, Kagome? Still queasy with the baby?" His concern was genuine, and for that she forgave his negligence.

"Yeah, a little. I'm just still getting adjusted to it." Kagome returned to stirring the pot on the fire, glad to have him home again. Suddenly she felt it again, the thump-thump in her abdomen. She gasped and stopped stirring.

"Kagome, what is it?" Inuyasha sat up, hearing her gasp like that. He was at her side in a second. She turned to look at him, a smile on her mouth.

"The baby just kicked again!" She was breathless when telling him. Inuyasha gasped a little too. His eyes went a bit wider.

"Really?!" He was excited. Kagome took his hand in hers and placed them on her body, right on top of where she felt the kick. They waited only s few seconds for it, then…

"Oh!" Kagome tweeted at the sudden sensation of the kick. She saw Inuyasha's eyes grow wider still and he smiled, happy to feel his child alive within his mate. "Did you-?"

"Yeah, I did! Wow!" Happiness twinkled in his eyes at knowing his child was coming, he would have a new member to his family.

"My son…my son..." Inuyasha spoke softly to the growing child in his mate's body, holding his hand to her abdomen.

 _Thump-thump_! Inuyasha felt the baby kick again, as if answering to him 'Yeah, old man, I'm right here and I'll soon be joining you!' His life would be yet more complete by this and he was happy for it.

Safe at home and warmed by the fire, his body relaxed more in Kagome's company. The day's troubles and pains became so much more trivial to him.

So much so, that as Kagome returned to getting his supper ready and chatted on, he fell asleep on their bed. Kagome had just finished scooping out his meal and getting the vegetables in a bowl too that when she turned around to bring him his meal, she found her husband out cold, asleep. She laid the meal tray gently down beside his side of the bed then tucked him in a little. He snored ever so softly.

"Well, I guess eating can wait for a little while." She moved the pot up from the fire to keep it warm while Inuyasha slept.


	10. The Final Countdown

**Celebration Day.**

Ch.1.

"Here, let me help you, Kagome." Inuyasha reached out with both arms, helping Kagome stand up from kneeling on the floor, holding her with care with the burden she had to carry. Kagome leaned heavily on her mate's arm for support, hoisting herself up to her feet.

"Easy, will ya', I'm not that flexible anymore." She groaned, unable to bend at the waist like she could before becoming laden with their coming child. The priestess huffed under her joyous weight as she let her mate guide her to the front entrance to their small hut.

Inuyasha pushed aside the screen that hung in the entranceway, letting Kagome exit without hindrance. She glanced up at her mate, seeing those strong amber-colored eyes appear soft and caring as he looked back with a love beaming from them.

"What is it?" Quietly and half-smiling he asked. He knew well what she was thinking. She had mentioned it in passing, how he'd changed in his demeanor as the time of their child's birth approached. She'd seen his attention to her and her needs grow as he stayed close to home and watched over her. 'Protecting' he called it. But Kagome could see tough his bluster and bravado. Inuyasha tried to deny it, but he couldn't hide from her that he was genuinely happy to be here to see this. A smile would slip out, and little laugh from him as tried to deceive her, telling of her 'woman's intuition' was nothing more than foolish wishing on her behalf.

"It's nothing. I'm just glad you're here with me today." She said smiling away his concern with ease. For the final weeks of Kagome's pregnancy, Inuyasha had not left her side for a moment. Inuyasha was protective of Kagome and unborn child. He snapped in irritation at anyone who distracted him from keeping watch over his mate or came too close for his comfort.

She has taken his over-protectiveness in stride with great understanding. He was just jittery and nervous about their coming son or daughter, wanting everything to go right and smoothly for his mate.

Kaede was keeping watch over the children today in place of Kagome today. The young priestess could no longer walk easily and tried not to overwork herself in her duties. Though Kagome disliked shirking her responsibilities, she understood the delicacy of her condition. She was not in her native twenty-first century era for this birthing; she was here in the _Sengoku-Jaidi_ and did not have the medical drugs or pediatrician specialists to tend to her in case of some emergency.

She was having natural childbirth and was going to experience all the pain of the moment. Kagome was more then a little scared. In a hospital, she would be under the constant monitoring of staff nurses who could detect the slightest irregularity in her condition.

"Are you sure you're okay Kagome? Is there anything I can get for you?" Inuyasha asked again for the fifth time in ten minutes, helping his mate out through the front entrance of their tiny home and towards the nearby tree where her favorite sitting stump was. She waddled over to the spot only to collapse onto the cushioned seat in relief from traveling even just a short distance. Her ample womb made sitting in any comfortable position virtually impossible. She kept shifting her weight, trying to find just the right position to be in so she could get up if she had to. The half-demon knelt down next to her, holding her hand in his, attending to her every need.

"I'll be fine. I just need to rest again." She assured, smiling that warm glowing motherly smile. The change in Kagome was so gradual that he hadn't noticed until very recently. To him, she still appeared like the same innocent girl he'd met only four years ago from that weird place on the other side of the bone Eater's well. But Kagome had matured into lovely young woman who was about to give birth to his first child.

He could hardly believe it was happening himself. Inuyasha gently ran his hand across Kagome's belly, wondering about the little person inside waiting to come out. Would it be a son or daughter? Kagome had hinted curiously several times if her mate preferred a first-born son more then a daughter.

Sensing an obvious trap for his male pride, he quickly denounced her question as foolish and unnecessary. So long as their baby was healthy, what more could he want? He hadn't exactly been honest with his response to her question. He did secretly, hidden in a small part of his heart, long for a son to share of himself with. Inuyasha's desire to fulfill the role his own father had left vacant during his own growing up was strong. The half-demon had never known his father, only of his father's legacy in stories and in the sword, _Tessaiga_ , left behind for Inuyasha as his inheritance.

"Hello in there. Anybody home?" He spoke to Kagome's bulging belly, caressing her womb in wonder of the coming miracle.

"You're so silly." She kidded, seeing the child-like curiosity in his eyes. Inuyasha managed to relax for a moment and smile with her. He hasn't felt this apprehensive in many years. All those months of waiting, feeling the baby kick in her belly as it grew along with his worry for his mate's well-being and safety. He would not let anything happen to Kagome, not with the time so close. Kagome lay her hand on top of his, touching the baby together through her body, wanting to be close with him as she felt at any time, the baby was coming due.

She thought funny of it, though. How strange it was that even without all the modern technology from her native era that she instinctively knew that the time was soon. Her body could tell her that it was close at head. She felt nervous and a little scared, this being her first time. There could be so many things that could go wrong, she thought. Suddenly, she caught herself doing it again, all that needless worrying.

Stop it! Don't do this to yourself. Everything is going to be fine. She corrected herself for thinking so negatively and let go of the momentary tension. This shouldn't be something to be afraid of. Kagome wished her mom were here, both for the moral and mental support. She'd like some one there who'd been through this before, just in case and to share in the moment.

"Mom…" Kagome said softly, more to herself then to her mate. Inuyasha peered up to see her looking off with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Huh?" He asked, wondering what she was meaning. She snapped back to the moment, remembering where she was.

"Oh, um, I was just thinking." Kagome cast him a faint smile in explaining.

"About you becoming a mom?" He wondered.

"I was thinking about my mother. I would have liked if she," She paused to add to her thought. "if both our moms could be here. I know they would've liked to be present for the birth." Kagome's voice hinted at her sadness but not regret from her choice.

"You didn't have to stay. You could have tried to go back home for this; to be with your family." Inuyasha repeated the same reason she could have tried returning to her own era. The young priestess curled a frowning eyebrow at him, telling Inuyasha silently not to bring up that topic right this minute.

"I stayed because I wanted to be here with you. I wanted to share this special time with you. This is our place now." She squeezed his hand as she told him, letting him know how important this was to her.

"I know," He blushed in boyish embarrassment, looking down with his head bowed a little. "I'm very happy that you did choose to stay." His voice was very quiet, as to be sure no one but she could hear his words.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay out here like this? It might be too chilly today and…" He began asking, forcing his mate to place a delicate finger or two over his lips, telling him to stop talking and worrying so much.

"I'll be fine, Inuyasha. It's the first warm day we've had for Spring and I really do want to be outside." Kagome put her hand up to her forehead to look, watching the fluffy white puffs of clouds sailing across the vast blue sky. An early warm spring breeze stirred the air around her as the glowing sun warmed her skin. It felt good to get out of the house after being cooped up for the winter like she'd had, sometimes driving her poor Inuyasha crazy. As the approach of spring and her time due drew so near, the false labor pains she had a few days ago had sent Inuyasha into a tizzy. Fortunately for him, Kaede was close by as she was watching over the children of the village that morning.

She went to Kagome's aid and reported, after several hours of terrible suspension for Inuyasha, that it was not yet time for the baby. It was the third such false alarm. Each one had sent Inuyasha into such a state of agitation and overbearing concern that he managed to annoy all of lady Kaede, Sango and Koharu who were there to help, enough to bar him from being at Kagome's side for the birth. So much so that Kohaku, the young demon-slayer whom Inuyasha had rescued from the clutches of the now-vanquished demon Naraku, was asked to guard the entrance to the hut. Kohaku's duty was to keep Inuyasha out of the ladies way while tending to Kagome. He'd held his ground in keep Inuyasha out previously. But these had been false alarms and not the real thing. Inuyasha could easily push Kohaku aside and gain entrance if he really wanted to.

Kagome had even contemplated a spiritual barrier around the hut if necessary to keep him at bay, but though better of it. She was secretly glad to see him worked up so much, reaffirming her belief in his love and concern for her and their baby. It was wonderful to see him so attentive and willing to go to any lengths to help and please her.

From where she sat with her mate, Kagome watched as a young man headed right towards them. The teenager's scent was unmistakable to Inuyasha, as he had already sensed his trainee was approaching.

"He's coming, isn't he?" The dog-demon whispered to his mate, not wanting to speak loudly so as to let his student hear him.

"Umm hmm." Kagome murmured, patting his head when seeing him frown in sourness, now having to fulfill his promise. It was time for Inuyasha to help Kohaku with his fighting.

"Why did I offer to do this?" He shook his head, wondering what had made him say what he said.

"Because you wanted to do something nice, that's why." Kagome quickly poked fun at him. She did not have to remind him of how Kohaku had come in asking for help. He wanted the dog-demon that rescued him to help teach him how to fight, to be strong in battle.

Reunited with her little brother, Sango had begun teaching her little brother more about fighting demons, but now being married and trying to raise three children was enough work as it was, so Kohaku's teaching had fallen by the wayside. Kohaku still felt unprepared and not confident enough to hunt demons alone. Inuyasha, in a moment of sympathy for the kid's hard luck, offered him an opportunity to learn some pointers on fighting if the teenager ever wanted. Kohaku jumped at the chance, wanting to learn as much as he possible from Inuyasha.

"Good morning Kagome- _san_. How are you today?" Kohaku politely greeted them. His bright tone and pleasant manner actually grated on Inuyasha. He would much rather spend the day keeping watch over Kagome then teach the young human how to wield a sword and fight.

"Good morning Kohaku. I'm doing fine, thank you for asking." Kagome smiled back. Kilala, the small demon feline that had been accompanying Kohaku, jumped down off his shoulder and bounded over to see Kagome, nuzzling the young priestess' leg before leaping up into her lap to say hello.

"Hi Kilala. It's nice to see you again too." She stroked the small creature's head gently, hearing the feline's raspy purr.

"I'm ready for this morning's lesson, Master." Kohaku bowed and waited for his teacher to address him.

"Oh hey, Kohaku. Listen," Inuyasha quickly glanced between his mate and his young pupil. "Eh, why don't we just skip today's lesson." He casually remarked with a flippant wave of his hand. Kohaku was taken aback, stunned to hear that Inuyasha didn't feel like practicing swordplay. At first, he was momentarily relieved to hear this. Learning after a few weeks of training together that Inuyasha was not the gentile type to spar with, having been knocked a bunch of times to the ground and nearly being skewered with _Tessaiga_ by accident on several occasions kept him alert during his training.

Both Inuyasha and Sango praised Kohaku for his rapid improvement in fighting. Sango was especially worried for her little brother. He was not really the demon-slayer he wanted to be. She knew he still had a long way to go before he could master the skills of fighting demons. She wanted him to be able to take care of himself. Having Inuyasha help Kohaku learn the skills necessary to fight and survive in these difficult times did ease some of his sister's worries.

"Master Inuyasha, are you sure?"

"Yeah, well, it's not like one day is going to make any real difference in…" Inuyasha began to wriggle out of his obligation but Kagome would not let him go back on his word. This was exactly what she needed for him to do. Keeping himself occupied and out of her space for a while. Kagome loved her mate dearly, but his over protectiveness lately was a bit much even for her.

"Oh no you don't. You are not going to sit around here all day, bugging me and harassing everyone who stops by to say hello." Kagome ruthlessly shattered his plans of getting out of having to teach Kohaku in order to linger around their home for another day. "This is good for the both of us. You get to stay busy and I get some sanity back from not having you hanging around me every second." She patted his arm, seeing him pout at not getting his way.

He's such a baby sometimes, she thought, watching his sour expression harden. "He's all yours." She chirped to Kohaku, urging her mate to get up and fulfill his duty and keep out of her hair for a while.

"Fine. I'll do it." Inuyasha grumbled curtly to her, standing up and turning to face the teenager. Kohaku could see the look of annoyance on Inuyasha's face at being bothered right now. He knew Inuyasha wasn't going to 'take it easy' on him today.

This was all the better, Kohaku thought determinedly. If Inuyasha was not going to hold back, then I can push myself harder this time and really get ahead in learning the art of fighting.

Kagome watched the two of them head out to a clearing at the other end of the village grounds, where they'd been working out. It was big enough to allow the two of them plenty of running space and still close enough to be in earshot for them if they were needed. Stroking Kilala's fur, Kagome momentarily tried to relax but the pitter-patter of small feet running and the sounds of children's laughter announced the coming gaggle of young admirers. Kilala jumped out of her lap and hid away to a safe point vantage point, patiently waiting for the coming horde of young humans to leave when done.

"Lady Kagome! Lady Kagome!" Several small children called out to her as they spotted the young priestess. In the blink of an eye, almost a dozen small children surrounded her, all quite excited and bombarding her with questions.

"Are you feeling okay today, priestess?" One girl asked in concern for her teacher.

"When is the baby coming?" Another girl followed suit, overwhelmed with curiosity of Kagome's pregnancy.

"Is it hard having a baby inside you?" A boy asked on the heels of the previous question. For a moment, Kagome wondered if this was what it felt like to be at the center of the paparazzi attention, she felt like some kind of odd 'pop' star or something. The small faces all beamed smiles at her, showing love and wonder for what she was experiencing.

"Now now, children," Another young woman's voice chided the youngsters gently for their barrage of questions. "We mustn't bother the priestess with such silly questions. She's got to reserve her strength." From around the corner of her home, Kagome watches her friend and the local mid-wife come into view with Rin accompanying her this morning.

"Good morning Kagome. How are you doing today?" Koharu asked her patient for the past month. Kagome smiled warmly as she was glad to have a close friend here to help out. Koharu had been a good friend of the companions since being introduced to them by Sango's husband, Miroku.

As a child, Koharu had lost both her parents to one of the many wars that ravaged the land. With no parents to take care of her, Koharu was forced into being a servant girl to a cruel master who worked her mercilessly day and night. On her trip to the village well for water one morning, she met a young monk who was visiting the village to perform an exorcism. Since he was young, Miroku had been cursed with the _Kazaana_ in his right hand; a vortex of incredible strength that could draw in any and everything in its wake.

Certain he would eventually perish by the _Kazaana_ growing in size to eventually consume him as had his father had been cursed likewise before him, Miroku went about asking every young lady he met on his wanderings if she would bear his children. Koharu was no exception to his advances. At the time she was still a child herself and not yet of bearing age. She'd always held onto a glimmer of hope that one day he would come back for her. Finding Miroku several years later while he traveled with his companions who were searching for shards of the _Shikon-no-Tama_ , she begged for his help in freeing her. The companions did manage to find her a safe home in another village under the care of its elder. She swore that she would never forget their kindness, and never did.

Koharu sought out Kagome and Inuyasha after hearing of their success in destroying the demon Naraku and of them staying in this village, not far from where she was living. In the handful of years she'd hadn't seen Miroku or his companions, she had learned the special art of caring for women in childbirth. Koharu's reputation had preceded her as a skilled and coolheaded midwife and soon women from other villages started asking for the young woman who could handle nearly any birthing situation.

She came to Kagome's aid the minute she heard that the priestess was with child. Inuyasha accepted Koharu as part of his inner circle, assured that she was reliable by his mate and friends. As Kagome became less capable of her duty in taking care of the village's little kids as her pregnancy progressed, Koharu made the natural choice to be Kagome's substitute while she was incapacitated or when Kaede was not available.

"I'm alright, I guess. As good as I can be." Kagome shrugged a little, shifting slightly from the weight on her hips. She thought she'd been keeping track of the days correctly in counting down to the right time of birth. "I think it's going to happen very soon." Kagome patted her expanse of body, feeling the internal clock ticking away to the magic moment. She could not help but smile, thinking of the baby inside her. Koharu understood perfectly what Kagome was talking about. All women have that internal clock that tells them when the time is approaching.

"Is it going to be a boy or a girl?" Another child asked aloud. Kagome thought about that for a moment, wondering herself about the sex of her child.

"I don't know, but we're all going to find out soon." She smiled as she tried making light of her condition. Both Kagome and Koharu were glad to see the children's curiosity about something as complex as childbirth. In time, one of them would explain in more detail what was involved but for the time being it was just something new for the children to see in the course of the day.

"I think we've bothered the priestess enough for today, children. Let's let her rest." Koharu was beset by the disappointed groans of the children at having to leave the Kagome's side. She led the group of children away from where Kagome sat under the tree, some of the children waved goodbye to Kagome as they left. "I'll stop back a little later to see how you're doing." Koharu added as she tried to keep the throng of youngsters together and guide them to some place where she could sit with them.

Kagome smiled and waved in their parting, seeing that Koharu had her hands full at that moment. Once alone again, Kilala reemerged from her hiding spot to return to Kagome's lap. Climbing up on top of Kagome's ball-shaped girth, the small demon feline proceeded to curl up and take a nap right there.

"Well, I'm glad at least one of us is comfortable." Kagome reached out to again pet the small demon cat and Kilala rolled her head in the gently scratching fingers, relishing in the attention. Kagome felt at ease. Things were ready and in place for the coming event. Now it was all just a matter of when.

Koharu returned as the sun reached its high point in the sky to see how Kagome was doing. The children were busy with lunch and that gave her time to slip away for a few minutes as Rin was watching over them for a bit. She hurried along alone, knowing she couldn't leave the children for long. Kagome hadn't moved from her seat. Sitting peacefully and reading a book, she was too lost in the world of her printed pages to notice Koharu only a few feet away.

"Kagome? Are you all right? Do you need anything?" Koharu quickly got the priestess' attention, startling her from her reading.

"What? Oh, no thank you, Koharu. I'm doing just fine." She assured the midwife that everything was quiet with her and nothing to worry about yet.

"If you need me, just holler and I'll be right there." Koharu nodded at Kagome, letting her friend know that she was still close by and ready if needed.

"Thanks, I'll be fine for now." Kagome assured her friend. Koharu smiled and quickly disappeared back around the corner to return to the children. sitting under the tree she left there. Kagome tried to get back into her book but within a few minutes she caught sight of Kohaku walking right towards her. The expectant mother sighed to herself, figuring her book was going to have to wait. The young demon slayer saw her and smiled, rubbing his head and winching from the pain of his latest training souvenir.

"Good gods, what did he do to you?" Kagome spotted the red welt on his forehead as Kohaku held his head in a slight daze.

"I guess I was thinking more about lunch then my lesson." He could still feel his head ring from the smack of the wooden blade his teacher and he trained with. He grimaced from the pain but still mustered a faint grin. He did not mind it too much; it was just part of the learning he knew he needed. Inuyasha would not have been able to land the shot so easily had the demon-slayer not been distracted by the grumble in his gut. Kagome shook her head, irritated by her mate's rough handing of his student.

"Argh! That half-demon! Sometimes he tries my patience..." Kagome harrumphed, seeing her young friend injured by Inuyasha's heavy-handed method of instruction. Kohaku was heartened by the priestess' concern but it was all right. Better he get his lumps from Inuyasha now rather than find death at the claws of some demon later.

"I just came back to get our lunches. Can I get you anything?" he offered. Kagome smacked her lips, feeling the dry mouth.

"Could you please bring me one of my canteens of water? I'm actually kinda' thirsty." she asked politely as she pointed out to where they should be in the house. Kohaku retrieved the lunches prepared for himself and his teacher as well as the odd looking clear container hanging from a peg on a wall post. He quickly returned with the water.

"Anything else?"

"No thank you. I'm fine." She was grateful for the water and took a quenching gulp.

"I'd better get back over there. I know Inuyasha hates waiting." Kohaku sighed a bit but quickly bucked himself back up. He was not going to let a few lumps on his head stop him from learning at the hands of the powerful demon. He was heading back across the village grounds when Kagome called out to him.

"Oh, Kohaku, tell him if he doesn't behave himself with you that I'm going to-"

Kohaku stopped, pausing at the incomplete warning that was suddenly cut off. He turned to see Lady Kagome drop her water canteen, her face twisting in reacting from a sudden and powerful contraction. Kilala leapt from Kagome's lap, the sudden movement having jostled her awake. Kagome attempted to get up off the stool, feeling her body beginning to tense up.

"Lady Kagome!" Kohaku was at her side in seconds. "What is it? Is it time?" Panting hard in reaction to the contraction and trying to keep a cool head, Kagome nodded. The pain inside her built up like a rising tidal wave and then to crash down and pull at her abdomen. She clenched her teeth as it hit her, causing her to fall back and clench onto the tree trunk to steady herself. The pain receded momentarily enough for her to talk.

"My labor has begun! Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" She cried.


	11. In The Light

Ch.2

In the clearing at the other side of the village, Inuyasha waited for Kohaku to return with their food. Lounging in a low, shady tree bough, he relaxed in the coming springtime warmth. His mind drifted to thoughts of his coming child, wondering if it would be a first-born son on not. He imagined a younger version of himself playfully running in and out of their small hut, waving about a small wooden sword, wanting to slay evil demons and save the world. Inuyasha grinned to himself, his imagination run away like that.

Kohaku had been gone for longer then usial and Inuyasha knew it didn't take that long to walk back to the hut and return.

He jumped down from his resting place, looking across the open ground of the village, back towards his home. His sensitive ears twitched, recognizing Kagome's voice calling out for him. Even from this great distance, Kagome's voice was as strong and clear as if she were right in front of him. He bolted across the village grounds back to his home before Kagome had even finished calling out his name the second time.

"Kagome, what's wrong?! Is it time?" he asked frantically amid the cloud of dust his running had kicked up. She looked at Inuyasha, her eyes focused on a point somewhere over his head. The priestess' face contorted in another fierce expression of pain, emitting a low moan that built up to an ear-piercing screech. Inuyasha backed up slightly, hearing her cry out like that, momentarily unsure of what to do.

"Please, please, get Koharu!" Kagome gasped. Inuyasha quickly took hold of Kagome in his arms, holding her up as he lead her back inside the hut to rest on their bedding.

"I'll go get her right now. You just stay here and take it easy." Inuyasha gently laid Kagome down on their bed and hurried back outside to find the midwife.

"Kohaku, quick! Go an' get…" He started demanding but the young demon-slayer was already getting on his way.

In a swirling flash of magical red and yellow fire, Kilala morphed herself from her familiar kitten-like size to that of an enormous demon-cat in order to transport her rider quickly. Kohaku jumped onto her back, heading away from the house.

"I'll go and get my sister, too! I know she was supposed to help!" The great demon cat launched herself into the air, magically flying her rider through the sky. Kilala would not be back with Sango and Miroku for a short while and Inuyasha had to hurry and find Koharu to tell her that it was time. Forgetting where he was, he dashed off in the wrong direction to where he thought Koharu and the children she was watching today were sitting. He darted about around the village, desperately looking for her and her wards. Finally finding the young woman sitting under a tree with Rin, Sango & Miroku's twin son and daughter along with several other children around her, he ran up to Koharu and began pulling at her arm, practically knocking Rin over in getting to her.

"Master Inuyasha, what are you doing?" Koharu questioned at his sudden arrival and attempt to pull her away like he was. Startled by the sudden and impolite interruption to the story she'd been telling the children, she pulled away from him.

"We have to hurry! It's Kagome; she's gone into labor! You must come right now!" Inuyasha pulled again at her, half dragging Koharu to her feet.

"Now see here," Koharu snapped at him. This rudeness was intolerable. She pulled away from him again, freeing her _kosode_ from his grasp. The mid-wife paused for a moment to collect her dignity, straightened her _mo-bakama_ and addressed the children. "Children, I must leave you now. Rin will stay here with you while I am away with Lady Kagome. Her time is at hand." The children gasped in surprise and delight, aware of their village priestess' state. She turned to face the irate half-demon who stood gnashing his teeth in control of his temper from waiting.

" _Now_ can we go?!" Inuyasha asked through his clenched teeth, worry and nerves twisting his innards. Koharu did not answer as she swiftly made for her lodging to retrieve her pack of birthing supplies. The half-demon followed the fleet-footed Koharu as she wound her way back to her house. As Inuyasha waited in the doorway, impatiently shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Koharu busied herself in collecting up her herbs, potions and other vitals, which she quickly wrapped in a shoulder pack while nattering away to Inuyasha.

"My, you look flushed for some reason. Catch your breath. I have to gather up my blossom leaves. They do make the best clotting drink, you know. These leaves are quite rare for these parts. I had to buy some from a farmer further up in the valley, though he's not very reliable in supplying me…" Koharu glanced over to the expecting father to be, seeing the tense expression on Inuyasha's face, who was just this side of screaming for her to shut-up and get moving.

"Is there anything wrong, Master Inuyasha?" Koharu asked, peering at Inuyasha concernedly.

"Yes! Yes!" Inuyasha declared with ever-mounting irritation, stamping his foot. "I told you! Kagome is having her baby! She needs you!"

"Well, there's no need to be rude about it, Master Inuyasha. There's enough of that across the lands these days as it is." Koharu answered with an injured air. "Women have been giving birth to babies since the beginning of time. I'm sure Kagome is doing just fine," She added, checking the contents again for the third time in as many minutes to be sure everything was there before wrapping them up. "Oh, there are my blossom leaves. I shouldn't worry. Has Kohaku left yet to retrieve his family? I could use Sango's help."

"Yes, he has gone already to get them." Inuyasha looked back out the entrance and up at the sky, wondering just how long it would take for his friends to arrive. He hoped they would get here soon.

"Well, who's in a hurry now? Do try to keep up, Master Inuyasha." With that, Koharu swept past the demon as she exited her hut. Inuyasha dearly wished to kick her in the behind from the aggravation.

For a young woman that was maybe a year or so younger then his mate, she was quite cocky and sure of herself. But the thought of Kagome at home alone, in the throes of childbirth, made him repress the impulse. Indeed, the half-demon did have to hurry in keeping up with Koharu, who walked along with quick strides on the well-worn footpaths. The walk was short, arriving at the hut and quickly entering to be at Kagome's bedside. They found the bedding soiled and bloodstained. Kagome emitted a low groan and her breathing quickened with the beginning of another contraction. Kagome's long, raven colored hair was sticking in clumps to the sides of her face from the perspiration. Her delicately boned face was drawn. After the contraction crested, Kagome collapsed back against the sheets.

Koharu quickly put a concerned hand to the priestess' forehead, checking her patient's temperature. The contractions were speeding up. Kagome's bed was already soaked.

"Good, your water has broken," Koharu declared. She unceremoniously pulled up Kagome's skirt and checked on the labor's progress, nodding her head in relief. "Put some water on to boil and get some clean clothes ready. The baby will be coming any time now." Inuyasha, aghast at the midwife's incongruous way of checking on his mate's condition, reluctantly did as requested.

Never one to really pitch in with household chores, Inuyasha awkwardly helped Koharu slip the old blankets from under Kagome's body and replace them with fresh ones. He lugged out the soiled bedding and collected up what clean clothes he could find, then lugged in two buckets of water from outside and set a pot on the fire to boil. Koharu was focused in her duty of keeping a watch on Kagome as she procured a small pouch from her carry sack.

"I need a clean bowl to use and some of the warm water from the tea pot." She requested and he found one unused bowl amid the small pile of plate- ware they owned. Koharu poured the contents into the bowl, stirring in the dry mixture to the water with a pair of chopsticks. Dunking a clean cloth into the brownish liquid and wringing it out just enough to keep it from dripping, Koharu used it to wipe down Kagome's brow and occasionally pulled up Kagome's skirt, to bathe her swollen stomach.

"What is that stuff anyway?" Inuyasha knelt down next to Koharu and sniffed the strange odor that emanated from the water in the bowl.

"Secret ingredients;" Koharu teased a little with a sly smile but quickly explained when she saw his angry expression at her joke making. "a balm to help ease her contractions and the pain." Inuyasha had to admit, Kagome was breathing easier after these ablutions.

"Inu…yasha?" Kagome panted, reaching out for him. He was at her side in an instant, holding her hands, comforting her.

"I'm right here Kagome." He pushed back some of her damp hair that persistently clung to her cheek. Smiling down at her, he longed to help her in this most trying moment. But it was all in her hands now and he was only an observer, and that was what made him so jittery and agitated. He hated feeling useless to his mate when she needed help.

"Excuse me, Master Inuyasha, but I have need of your help." Koharu quickly broke up the tender moment to remind them of the seriousness of their job. She kept Inuyasha busy while she tended to Kagome. She has him bring her a cushion to kneel on by the bedside, to find more blankets, to brew a pot of tea, to get some more wood for the fire. This was good for the expecting father, having something to do while waiting for Sango and her family to arrive and lend a hand.

The time passed without notice for Inuyasha as he had been too occupied running around in giving what help he could. Sango and Miroku finally returned from their village, spending as much free time they had in its reconstruction. Kilala brought them in by air to shorten the travel time. The demon feline landed on the ground, right in front of their friend's home, finding Inuyasha pacing about nervously in front.

"What the Hell took you two so long?! What were you doing, building the emperor a new palace or something?!" Inuyasha practically shouted, his anxiety getting the better of him. The happy couple climbed off Kilala's back to greet the irate half-demon on his most joyous day.

"No, actually we were redecorating it and simply couldn't leave the final decisions on the interior colors up to just anybody." Miroku sarcastically poked fun at the half-demon's seriousness and obvious agitation.

"Let's see; nervous pacing, high irritability, trembling hands, sweaty brow. Yeah, I'd say our soon-to-be-father is right as you said he would be." Sango evaluated the condition of her half-demon friend with a certain amount of friendly sarcasm in her voice too. She was amused to see her friend in obvious worry for Kagome's condition. "You win the bet, I guess," she added blandly to her husband.

Miroku laughed a little, seeing his first instincts about his friend's condition was confirmed. Inuyasha didn't like being the butt-end of a private joke, even between his close friends, especially at such a critical time for him. Growling and clenching his fists, he kept his temper in check despite the desire to knock their heads together for poking fun.

Sango thought he'd be much calmer with the knowledge that she and Koharu were here to help out. But, as it was with so many expecting fathers, he was as nervous and jittery as any of them.

 _Look at him. He's practically a nervous wreck. How wonderfully_ _human_ _of him!_ Sango thought to herself at this revelation.

"Koharu is already inside with Kagome," he explained and Sango was quickly on her way inside to lend a hand to Koharu. Inuyasha started to follow after Sango, but the monk caught hold of his arm, stopping him.

"I think it would be best if you just stayed put, Inuyasha, and let Koharu and Sango handle this."

"What?! Why can't I be there for my son's birth?" The half-demon groused, wanting to be at his mate's side for this their most special occasion. Miroku had to clue him in on such delicate matters.

"It isn't proper; men are forbidden to be in the birthing room when a woman in bearing her child." Inuyasha squint his eyes at the monk.

"That's bullshit! Who made up that stupid rule?!" He cursed, accusing his friend of duplicity. Inuyasha turned and took a step or two towards the hut when his friend gave warning.

"I, for one, wouldn't try entering the hut if I were you. This is Koharu's field of expertise so I believe we must trust and respect her methods. She can handle any situation." Miroku assured his friend that it would be alright. Inuyasha snarled a little at being denied something he wanted to be a part of. He wanted to be the first one to see his newborn son.

Inuyasha watched as Miroku pull out from the backpack a squat round jug of some kind with an ornate cork plug stopped in its neck.

"I brought us a little something to celebrate with, for us _men_." Miroku shot him a sly smile, having rendered his skills recently and acquired this when the payment came due. It was from the mainland, from China; a bottle of very expensive rice wine brought by some of those new foreign traders that had appeared more as of late. Its cost was worth a month's earnings from working the rice fields. Inuyasha tried to read the Chinese markings on the old bottle, but they were near completely faded or scratched off. Inuyasha grinned back, aware of what this was.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to have a little." Inuyasha sized up the jug he held in one hand, figuring he and his friend could consume the contents without too much difficulty. He was about to pop the cork right there but Miroku stopped him.

"Not now, my friend. This," he rapped the jug with a knuckle, "Is for afterwards."

"Why not?"

"There'll be plenty of time to celebrate." The two friends had only been standing in front of the residence for a few minutes when the first well-wisher came by, passing along some 'essentials' for the expectant parents. Inuyasha was a bit surprised by the gesture and awkwardly accepted the offering. This was something new and unexpected.

"It's an expression of congratulations from you neighbors. They obviously must think much of you and Kagome." Miroku saw the stunned expression on his friend's face at the very notion of _humans_ acting kindly to a half-demon. It was still hard for Inuyasha to accept such thinking about humans. Knowing only the hatred and fear of all half-demons humans had from the days of his youth, this 'kindness' thing was taking some getting used to. A few of the mothers of the kids that Kagome watched over daily dropped by to offer their prayers and give a little something for their coming child. Inuyasha was more surprised by this. Some of them he'd only spoken to perhaps once or twice, having kept to himself much of the time when coming and going, were happily offering what they could to them.

"I don't recall everyone here reacting like this when Sango had the twins. Do you?" Inuyasha wondered at why the difference.

"Like I said, they must have great respect for Kagome and her skills."

"You know," the monk abruptly returned to the subject, "Becoming a father is a big change in a man's life. For the better, I mean."

"Of course it's going to change for the better, Miroku. I'm going to have a son. How much better could it get?" Inuyasha thought it obvious. He missed this friend's intention.

Inuyasha turned back to look at the hut, its screen reed door shut to him, forbidden to enter. "I just hate having to wait and not see myself." Miroku could see the clenched fists of Inuyasha's tremble in pent up energy with no outlet for it. He wanted his friend not to worry so. Perhaps he could help ease his friend's mind, not to mention maybe expand it a tiny bit.

"Perhaps you just need to relax with and focus your energy on something positive." Miroku offered. He'd witnessed a slow but genuine maturing of his friend in the short time since Inuyasha and Kagome had come together. He and Sango noticed many times how the two of them always seemed to complement one another; her love, patience and cool-headedness balanced with his strength and courage.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Inuyasha was clueless to what the monk was referring to.

"We should pray, my friend, for Kagome and your child's wellbeing. We should be in prayer right now." Miroku informed his slower minded friend, seeing the dim light over Inuyasha's head grow a tiny bit brighter in understanding.

Inuyasha never had much use for faith or prayers. His life of living on the run while growing up alone did not leave much time for that. Survival was the order of the day.

Spirituality? What was that? Useless unless it could somehow help him become a full-fledged demon or gave him more power. But his life had evolved so much since then. It was now full of hope and possibility. Inuyasha didn't want to lose all that he felt he had gained in so short a length of time. Perhaps this was the time for such things, to help keep him grounded and his family safe.

"You think so?" Inuyasha felt a beam of awareness come through at this thought. "What do I do?" His mind opened to the idea.

Miroku was pleased when hearing his friend open up to the idea of receiving guidance to a higher path of the mind and spirit. "Come with me and I will try to explain." Leaving the gift with Kohaku by the door to the hut, he followed Miroku across the village grounds and up the shrine's staircase and into the shrine itself, standing in front of the statue of Buddha. Miroku began to explain more on how Inuyasha could attain higher spiritual being.

"As I told you, Inuyasha, becoming a parent is a big change to a man's life. You'll start thinking differently, thinking about your family more and less about one's own interest. Putting those whom you care about ahead of yourself becomes second nature."

"Huh. I never thought of it like that." Inuyasha wondered about what Miroku said, wondering if he was somehow different now than when his friends had first met him. Had he changed? Was he really that different then when they were traveling together and battling Naraku's incarnations all those times? He didn't feel any different than before.

"I would like to share with you some of the things I've learned to help ease my mind when under great stress or worry. I think you'd benefit greatly from such enlightenment." Miroku encouraged.

"So, what am I supposed to do?" Inuyasha shrugged, clueless to the subject talked about.

"Let me show you, my friend." Miroku gladly lead his friend to a quiet spot on the shrine's grounds, away from the hut and away from the normal bustle of the village. Here, Miroku hoped to imbue Inuyasha with what he learned.

"This seems like a good spot. Let's sit here and we'll begin." The monk instructed. Sitting cross-legged and waiting, Inuyasha wondered what Miroku had in mind. "Now," His friend sat aside to him as they began. "I want to you to begin by closing your eyes and relax. Clear your mind of all that's bothering you or of concern. Let your mind go blank."

Inuyasha did as instructed, trying not to think about anything and trying to relax. Those acute demon senses of his made it difficult for him to do so, keeping him alert and tense. Miroku continued his instructions.

"Think of a place, a special place within your mind that pleases you to be there the most. Someplace where you are most relaxed and happy; a place where there is no fear or want or worry."

Inuyasha tried to think of a place, any place that made him feel the most happy and content. Instinctually, his thoughts drifted to Kagome and being with her; remembering their times together and how much he loved her. The thought drew him deeper into it, thinking of being with her, walking slowly together across a green rolling meadow in Springtime while holding her hand. He felt this feeling carry his mind away more, making his friend's voice drift off further into the background.

"It is this place where you go when…" He heard the monk say but soon the voice was faded away totally and Inuyasha only saw and heard what his mind's eye showed him. There in the meadow, he saw a small boy waiting for him. Dressed in a smaller matching fiery red _kariginu_ and _nu-bakama_ , the boy's silvery-white hair shone in the bright sunlight. In the child's small hand was _Tessaiga_ , the sword left to Inuyasha by his father.

 _My son…_ He thought as he let go of Kagome's hand and went up to the small boy, a happiness bursting forth at the revelation of finding he had had a son born to him. With joy in his heart, he knelt down next to his son, eager to share what he knew with his offspring. Holding _Tessaiga_ in his small hands, the youngster listened carefully to his father's instructions. His son looked up to him, patiently listening to his teaching, hanging onto every word his father spoke.

"Father, how will I be able to summon the _Kaze no Kizu_ attack? How does _Tessaiga_ know? Will it respond to me, too?"

Inuyasha felt his heart skip a beat with delight when hearing his son's voice, making him chuckle. His mind conjured up more such joyous images he longed to experience. This would be his great reward; the chance to do and be the things that his own father was not for him. His son would never have to grow up alone and defenseless, bitter at a world that rejected him for being a half-demon.

"Do you understand what I mean, Inuyasha?" Miroku sensed his new pupil's head was lost in some happy distant cloud, unaware of the question asked. Inuyasha suddenly snapped back from his fantasy to reality, flushed in embarrassment at having been caught not listening.

"Oh…yeah, right. The…uh, existential meaning of the life force. I'm keeping up alright." He smiled weakly, vainly trying to convince his friend he'd been paying attention.

"At least try to pay attention, Inuyasha." Miroku's expression became serious. "This is important and you may very well need this at some time in your life." The monk's voice cut with an edge of annoyance and the half-demon could feel it. It wasn't because Inuyasha was not interested. It was that he was just too excited about his coming child.

Again Miroku began his teaching, wanting his half-demon friend to try. He showed the half-demon how to meditate and focus his energies toward the safe birth of his baby and Kagome's quick recovery. This was easier for Inuyasha to comprehend. As he tried to clear his mind, Inuyasha could feel his worry and tension within him begin to fade, allowing him to relax and let a lucid consciousness fill him in its place.

He felt himself drifting away, floating in an ethereal sea of stars, feeling his body relax and his mind ease of worry.


	12. Celebration Day

Ch.3 Communication Breakdown

"Inuyasha!" A distant voice cried out, catching the half-demon's mind adrift in his teacher's mesmerizing and tranquil voice speaking of calm and piece. Inuyasha recognized the voice. It was Kagome.

"Inuyasha!" She cried again for him, more desperate in voice. The half-demon leapt to his feet and darted back towards the hut.

"Kagome! I'm coming!" He yelled back, letting her know he was coming to her side.

"Inuyasha, wait a moment!" Miroku was astonished by the speed with which the half-demon moved, disappearing off the shrine's grounds in a matter of heartbeats. Inuyasha spotted Kohaku still standing in front of the entrance to the hut. The young demon-slayer was still on duty at keeping Inuyasha out of the way of the women inside. But this time, Inuyasha wasn't going to be denied entry, no matter who was standing guard.

"You'd better get outta my way!" Inuyasha roared, giving fair warning to the foolhardy human as he hurtled towards the hut at breakneck speed, brandishing _Tessaiga_.

Kokaku spotted him, barreling down the shrine's staircases and heading right at him. Armed with the _kurisama-gama_ made for him by the master demon sword-smith Totosai, he was going to fulfill the duty assigned him by Koharu and his sister by keeping Inuyasha out of the hut.

This would be the ultimate test for Kohaku. Could he stand up to his own teacher's fierce attack? He was about to find out. He readied himself, getting the loop of chain in his left hand ready to throw while choking up on the grip of his _kurisama-gama._

"Move!" Inuyasha bellowed, bringing _Tessaiga_ thundering down in a fierce chop, only to be blocked by the curved blade of Kohaku's _kurisama-gama_. The young man pushed back as hard as he could against the assailing sword.

"No, Master Inuyasha, I will not! You must not enter!" Kohaku refused to budge, shoving Inuyasha and his sword back in an attempt to block him. The dog-demon roared, vexed by his pupil's stubbornness in obeying Sango's orders. He did not want to hurt Kohaku, only get his student out of the way.

 _Swish_! _Clang_! _Chop_! _Swoosh_! The two combatants went at it. So intense was their sparring that both were completely oblivious to the person now standing in the doorway of the hut, watching them carry on like knuckleheads.

"Stop this at once!" A woman commanded in a loud and clear voice, startling both Inuyasha and the demon-slayer nearly out of their wits with Koharu's sudden appearance. Both of them stopped and turned to look at her.

"The birthing is complete." She announced with a huge smile and the sound of a newborn crying out loud filled the air around them. Koharu watched Inuyasha's expression change in an instant from his usual fierce scowl to a glowing smile of happiness.

"Congratulations, Master Inu- _oof_!" Kohaku was knocked abruptly aside by the swatting hand of the excited new father. Miroku had caught up with Inuyasha and arrived just in time to hear the news.

Eagerness and joy shone in his eyes. "Well, can I see my son now?" His impatience was obvious, looking up and over and around Koharu who blocked the doorway with her body as he bounced up and down on his feet.

"Firstly," Koharu began reading off a scrap of parchment she held in one hand. "According to the instructions…"

"Instructions?" Inuyasha interrupted, but the midwife barely gave him a cursory glance. Pinning him firmly with her voice, she read on. "You are to bathe yourself before you may see your child." She read off the itinerary left by Kagome for her mate to go through.

"What the…bathe!?" Inuyasha growled, being denied to see his son for such a stupid reason. Koharu added more.

"Yes. Here, you are supposed to use this." The mid-wife handed him a small, white scented cake of some kind of hard substance. He sniffed it a bit then looked back at her, confused. "It's soap. You're supposed to use it when you bathe to wash the dirt off." Koharu instructed him.

"Soap!? This is stupid! Why do…" He demanded, his temper rising sharply.

"Because," Koharu countered. "You are no doubt sweaty and dirty from running around like a maniac and from being a nervous wreck." She ignored his growing growl. "There is a clean set of clothes to change into once you have bathed and made yourself presentable." The half-demon pulled at his long silvery-white hair, gnashing his teeth, barely holding his temper in check.

"Damn it! Why is everyone making such a big deal out of this?! I just want to look at my son! Why do I have to do all of that first?!" He fumed on, but it seemed he had no other choice.

"I also know well from my own experience, Master Inuyasha, a baby can become sick from being around unclean people. You certainly don't want that to happen, do you?" He glowered at her.

"If you don't believe me, then here," Koharu turned the parchment over to show him that she was telling the truth. "It's in Kagome's own hand writing."

Miroku had to slip a hand over his mouth in order to hide his smirk from Inuyasha. His friend was absolutely livid about this edict but he felt it was his duty to help ensure that Inuyasha would do as he was instructed.

"Now don't tell me you're going to let a little thing like bathing keep you from seeing your firstborn son, are you?" The monk teased, patting Inuyasha on the shoulder.

"And if he tries anything funny, like forcing his way in, I'm right her with my _hiraikotsu_ to stop him." Sango popped out from behind Koharu, affirming that he was not getting in easily. Snatching the small white bar of soap and the washrag he was supposed to use from Koharu, he stomped off to a secluded spot along the river where no one would see him.

"I hate all of you right now! Do you know that?!" Shouting furiously back at them and shaking his fists in the air, Inuyasha stomped off in the direction of the river.

"The longer you whine about it, the longer the wait to see your son." Miroku called after him as he watched Inuyasha storm off in a huff and finally disappear into the forest growth.

"Here, he's going to need this," Koharu handed Miroku the clean set of clothes for Inuyasha as well as a large terry cloth towel for the Inuyasha to dry himself with. "And make sure he actually does what he has been told."

"Right. Wish me luck, I may not come back alive." The monk joked with his wife and friend, well aware of the half-demon's short temper.

"Then I'd have to seek my revenge on him if he did kill you." Sango assured her husband.

Leaving the two women to get Kagome and the baby ready for a first appearance, Miroku followed the path Inuyasha had headed down that lead to the river. The sound of splashing water alerted him to his friend's whereabouts. Sitting on a rock near a large clump of sagebrush and sapling trees, the monk waited patiently for Inuyasha to get about his duty, listening to Inuyasha grumbling aloud at the inconvenience they were causing him in making him wash before seeing his newborn son.

"Ready yet, are we?" Miroku asked, hearing a lull in Inuyasha's complaining. Inuyasha re-emerged from his bath, now dressed in his clean clothes and vigorously rubbing his silvery white hair dry with the towel. "See? Was that so bad?" Miroku teased, speaking as if Inuyasha were only a child.

"Shut up, Miroku." Inuyasha warned with a scowl and an angry glare in his eyes. Grinning, the monk rose to his feet, keeping a careful distance behind his surly friend, Miroku escorted his friend back to the hut for inspection by Koharu and Sango.

"Well, at least he doesn't smell anymore." Koharu concluded as she checked him over. "I guess it'll have to do."

Inuyasha bit his tongue. His son was on the other side of where the two women were standing and he was going to get past them come Hell or high water.

" _Now_ can I see my son?" Inuyasha huffed, annoyed at the continuous delay.

"Well, I guess you can see the baby now." Koharu and Sango slowly stepped aside to allow Inuyasha entrance.

"Tell me what your son looks like when you get back. I'm sure he's the spitting image of you." Miroku patted his back as Inuyasha was about to step through the entrance.

Sango's expression changed, making both of them stop and take note of her. "I think you'd better hold off on the description until after you've seen the baby." she remarked cautiously. A moment of fear gripped at the half-demon's heart as he wondered what Sango could be talking about.

He hurried past Koharu and into his home. Was his son deformed? Did he still look remotely human? A flurry of questions swirled frantically around in his head as he approached the bed, kneeling beside where Kagome lay.

Sango and Koharu knelt opposite of him, watching him closely. Kagome wearily looked up from the small bundle she held in her arms to see her mate was now by her side again. She smiled at him, exhausted but her face still glowing with that motherly radiance. She beckoned him closer, to show him their child.

"Inuyasha…look at our little miracle." Kagome held out the newborn infant so her mate could see too. Nervously, Inuyasha reached out with an unsure finger to pull back the blanket and see his son for the first time.

His first fear was put to rest as he looked down to see the pinkish-purple person sleeping with its eyes closed. He could easily see two tiny hands, two little feet, two eyes, a nose, a mouth…and two ears.

Those ears! His eye went a bit wider in astonishment. Two small, pink human ears protruded from the side of the infant's head, denying any half-demon heritage. Unsure if he was right, Inuyasha checked the baby's fingers and, sure enough, no claws on the tips on the infant's fingers. He was genuinely startled. His son looked perfectly normal….

…normal, that is, for a human baby.

"Hey, no half-demon ears or claws." He noted, bewildered by their absence. This didn't make any sense to him. He had been born a half-demon so why hadn't his son?

Kagome shrugged slightly, bewildered as to the reason their child was fully human and not half-demon. "No, I guess not. But isn't she the most precious little thing you've ever seen?" Kagome cuddled closer to her mate.

" _She_?" He gasped in quiet shock, his head cocked in confusion to what was just said to him. This was definitely something he was not expecting. How could this be? After all those long months of waiting, feeling the baby kick and move around so much in Kagome's womb, he was convinced only a half-demon son could be so active within its mother's belly.

"Do you want to hold her?" Kagome asked, holding up their child swaddled in the blanket, encouragement in her words that her mate would want to bond with their daughter. Inuyasha blanched when hearing the question.

"Huh? Wha-? Who? Me hold the baby? I…uh-" He stammered, believing he would somehow hurt her or drop her by accident. Kagome was close enough to see Inuyasha actually tremble slightly from the idea of holding the baby. She wearily sat up, moving closer to him so as to make his first time holding his daughter easy. Sango and Koharu followed along with Kagome's lead, knowing his true heart underneath that ego and pride. They moved closer to Inuyasha, so as to help and reassure him.

"Here, it's really easy. You just put your arms here like this," Koharu quickly positioned his arms in order to cradle the infant. "And you just take her in your arms." Kagome gently handed over custody to her mate, watching with wide eyes as he held his daughter for the first time.

"I…I'm, uh, not sure I'm…" Inuyasha floundered, unable to make a cohesive sentence as he received the tiny infant in his arms. The baby felt light as a feather and he silently wondered if there was actually a person inside all that wrapping. The three women smiled harmoniously at seeing the proud father take hold of his child for the first time; the arrows of love piercing his heart by the gentle look in his eyes. The moment of hesitation was cast to the scattering winds as he felt his heart grow in love for his offspring, feeling something inside him that had not been there before. His face glowed with the love for this new member of his family.

"She's…she's so tiny." Inuyasha felt himself getting choked up, gazing at the infant he held affectionately.

"Oh, just look at you holding her." Kagome sighed happily, seeing him hold his child, gazing adoringly at his daughter with undeniable fatherly love.

"Positively adorable, I'd say. He's a natural at it." Koharu added smartly with a nod of approval.

"I guess you had him figured out all along, Kagome. He acts all mean and tough but he's just a big softy on the inside." Sango chortled at seeing the powerful dog-demon actually cuddling a newborn baby with such tenderness. The three ladies chuckled with sisterly joy at seeing that Inuyasha was, perhaps, more in touch with his _human_ side then he realized at that moment. Sensing his character was suddenly in question or doubt, Inuyasha had to immediately clear the air of all this 'adorable' frou-frou.

"Hey, I do not look adorable, okay?!" He shot at them, feeling flushed at the suggestion of himself appearing anything other than the fierce warrior he was. The trio of woman each gave him such a sarcastic smirk at hearing him disagree with their observation. His flush increased.

"Oh, really? Then what would you call the way you're holding her so close like that, if it wasn't adoring love?" Kagome questioned her mate with a bit of smugness. Sango and Koharu watched in delighted silence, seeing him flush still a deeper shade of scarlet.

"I'm merely…." Inuyasha stumbled to come up with any plausible explanation for doting over his newborn daughter.

"Showing protectiveness for my daughter! You got a problem with that?!" They understood him perfectly. There was no need to tease him more. Koharu tried to take possession of the infant but Inuyasha actually pulled his daughter away from the midwife, reluctant to relinquish his daughter.

"Gimme' a minute more, would ya?" He snipped at Koharu, wanting to savor this time for a little longer.

"I think it's time we gave Kagome and the baby time to rest. You'll have plenty of time to hold her later." Koharu managed to persuade the new father into surrendering possession of the infant. Kagome saw the wounded look of longing in Inuyasha's eyes to hold his daughter again. She was so happy at seeing how much her mate loved the baby and wanted her near him. Though she never asked him directly, Kagome suspected his preference for a son and was worried he would not accept a girl. But witnessing his way with the baby just now dispelled any doubt she may have held.

"You just rest yourself, Kagome. There's a whole bunch of gifts waiting for you and the baby to see when you're ready." Inuyasha leaned over to kiss his mate.

"I'll be up and around by tomorrow, if I'm lucky." Kagome held his hand in hers, assuring him that she was fine.

"Don't push yourself. Take as much time as you need to recover your strength." Inuyasha was reluctant to leave Kagome's bedside, but he allowed Koharu and Sango to pull him away from Kagome's side and back out the front entrance.

"She'll be fine, Inuyasha. The delivery went without a hitch. Kagome will be up and around in no time." Koharu assured him that everything was fine. He was so relieved that he actually managed to let free a small smile of gratitude.

"I...I'm not sure what I would've done without you here." His voice was quiet when speaking to her. Only Koharu could hear him as his back was towards his waiting friends. He fumbled to find the words to describe what he felt inside. "I guess what I'm tryin' to say…"

"You're quite welcome." She got to the end of his thought before he did. He didn't like being so awkward at moments like this. He wished it weren't so hard to say sometimes. For the midwife, the sanguine look of fatherly bliss on his face was enough of a reward for her. She was glad to finally repay them for the act of kindness he and Kagome had done for her those years ago.

Koharu closed the screen, shutting out the outside world for a bit longer so as to allow her patient to rest quietly and undisturbed. Inuyasha turned to face his old traveling companion and student sitting and talking to one another. When they saw him coming towards them, they stopped talking and stared at Inuyahsa's unfamiliar expression in wonder.

"Master Inuyasha? Are you alright?" Kohaku looked right at his instructor whose eyes were focused somewhere far, far away.

"Huh?" he asked absentmindedly, pulled back into reality. Miroku, too, could see the look of serene peace in the Inuyasha's expression. This made the monk wonder what revelation his friend had discovered within the hut. Inuyasha could only smile, lost in blissful ignorance.

"Well, did you see your son?" Miroku asked Inuyasha directly. Inuyasha grinned stupidly, recalling how his daughter looked in his arms.

"Yeah," He mumbled in a dreamy voice, "She's the most beautiful human baby I've ever seen." The monk nearly dropped his _shakujou_ when hearing this.

 _Human girl_? He thought he heard wrong. "You mean, you're child isn't half-demon?" This was impossible, the monk concluded but yet, he must be wrong.

"Not half-demon?" Kohaku was equally stunned by the news.

"But, Inuyasha how…?" Miroku tried to make sense of it but his friend only smiled, shaking his head.

"I don't know…Kagome doesn't know…it's just a mystery. I can't explain why she's not half-demon, but I guess it really doesn't mater, does it?" Inuyasha looked at both his friends, glad they were here to be with him for this most joyous time. The two friends could not believe what they had heard. After listening to the half-demon boasting and bragging about going to have a son and how sure he was by his 'evidence' in the end proved to be for naught.

"Hey, what's up with all the standing around and staring?! We've got to celebrate!" Inuyasha announced loudly, slapping Miroku on the back and giving Kohaku a friendly punch in the shoulder that nearly knocked him down.

Inuyasha picked up the squat jug Miroku had brought along. "Let's not waist another minute and bust this thing open." Miroku and Inuyasha were about to go find someplace private to indulge in celebration when they noticed Kohaku was not with them.

"Hey, Kohaku, ain't you comin'?" Inuyasha called out to his pupil who was still lingering by the hut. Unsure if the two fathers in partaking of strong drink would welcome him, he'd opted not to say anything. But hearing his teacher asking him to join them, Kohaku felt a certain flushed pride of truly being accepted as a member of that 'inner circle' of friends Inuyasha had cultivated. The trio of young men sought out a shady place to drink and swap stories about the adventures they've had long into the night and into the wee hours of the morning.


	13. Can You See the Real Me?

Ch. 4 "Can You See the Real Me".

"Haw! Haw! That was a moment to remember!" Inuyasha guffawed. He paused in laughing only long enough to take another swig from the jug of _sake_. Wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand, he handed it back to his friend.

"You should have seen the look on your face, not to mention Sango's!" Inuyasha slapped his knee in drunken amusement at thinking of it again. The monk grinned sloppily back at his friend, taking the jug in his left hand.

"It was an innocent mistake. They had the wrong person. How else should I have looked like?" Miroku raised a wary eyebrow at the memory of only a handful of years ago, recalling the trouble his friend, Hachi the _Tanuki_ , had caused him by impersonating his master. He rubbed his wrists, recalling the feeling of his wrists lashed and his arms pinned behind his back.

He took a gulp from the jug, enjoying the hazy effect on his body; no doubt Inuyasha had the same buzzing feeling in him as well. Miroku glanced over to look at his brother in law next to him, chuckling at what he found. Leaning forward from the comfortable nook he'd found in the tree to observe his slumbering student, Inuyasha smiled drunkenly at what he saw.

"Kohaku didn't last very long." Inuyasha slurred, seeing how the teenager lay sprawled out on the ground, the alcohol having sent him to sleep after several hearty gulps and a couple of hours of talk.

Kohaku snored softly away, resting his head on an arm and effectively drooling on himself from his open mouth. Miroku nudged him to see if he were out cold or merely dozing. The young man only mumbled softly and shifted himself, no longer residing himself to the land of the conscious.

The monk smiled stupidly in fun at his wife's brothers' attempt to keep up with them. But he'd suspected Kohaku wouldn't have lasted long either.

"No. He's out for sure." Miroku turned back to see Inuyasha laughing to himself in amusement, seeing his student put out cold by the _sake_.

"He'll have one Hell of a hangover tomorrow." The half-demon took another big gulp from the jug, enjoying the night in celebrating of his virility.

"You know he will. But come to think of it, who'd suspected we'd be celebrating this day just a few years ago. Amazing how time has made men of us both, Inuyasha." He gave the half-demon a chuck on the shoulder, congratulating him for stepping into his new role as a parent. The metal rings of the monk's _shakujou_ tinkled brightly as Miroku leaned a little more on it for support when moving. The blot to the monk's head was growing heavier and he was having difficulty sitting up. He held firmly to the oaken shaft, not letting the drink take him. Not until he'd seen his friend go down before him.

As one already himself blessed with two sons and a daughter, the monk had teased, albeit good-naturedly, at his friends' greenness to what was in store for him for the previous months. Inuyasha repeatedly feigned any fear or concern, snapping his fingers in telling how easy this was going to be for him to raise a child.

Now Inuyasha's child had arrived. It was such a heady rush for the newly minted father to believe it himself. Those months of waiting and then, there was a new person alive in this world, all because of he and Kagome's love. His mind was filled with a strange euphoric sense of wonder of what he and Kagome had created.

 _My daughter. I have a daughter now._ The thought rang clear in his head, despite the foggy brainwaves from his inebriation. In his mind's eye he could see himself in the role awaiting him; playmate, teacher, guardian and provider for his family. He could already hear the sound of his daughter's voice in his head, hearing her say 'I love you, papa.' for the first time. His heart felt like it would burst forth from his chest in feeling such happiness. Inuyasha leaned back into the comfortable nook of the tree, pondering more about being a father now. He looked high up into the vault of the sky, gazing at the slightly eclipsed moon hanging motionless, surrounded in a sea of twinkling stars.

" _Otosan_. Who'd of thought I'd ever hear that spoken to me?" Inuyasha wondered at the sound of that word; to be called Father by a child.

"It takes a bit getting used to. But don't worry, you'll do fine. I'm sure your parents would be very proud right now." The monk took another swig, feeling his limit approaching before losing consciousness to the _sake_. Gulping it down, he caught sight out of the corner of one eye how his friend looked intently up in the night sky, as if far away in thought.

Inuyasha thought of his own lineage, to a father he never knew and only saw briefly one time. Only in legend did he know of the dog-demon father who sired him. His mother, his _human_ mother that tried to raise him was slain by the enemies of her husband after his demise. She died when he was only a child, reducing her remembrance to a face caught motionless in time and a distant echo of her voice saying his name.

There was so little he could recall of those years, much of his life spent on the run and trying to survive. What could he draw from his own life to make sense for this new life he was just beginning?

 _How am I supposed to be a father now when my own wasn't there? What am I supposed to do? What's the right thing to do_? He looked up at the swaying limbs of the tree he sat under, rustling in a gentle night breeze that blew.

He watched the arms of the _Go-Shinboku_ , the Sacred God tree and how it moved in the breeze. He thought how odd this tree was in its existence and its long life seemingly bridging a connection of two worlds; here in the _Sengoku-Jidai_ and that of Kagome's modern future time. It was here at this very tree, where he'd been pinned to its trunk by Kikyou's sacred arrow and slept for fifty years. Where Kagome had then found him and freed him from his imprisonment and where he'd finally asked Kagome to be his mate for life.

Despite, or maybe because of, the fuzzy and tingling feeling, he found himself becoming conscious in listening to every creak and groan of noise this tree made. The half-demon's canine ears twitched, as if to listen more to an uneasy and restless groan that emanated from the tree's branches. He listened, hearing the creaking sound of movement resonate through the limbs and branches.

From where Miroku sat the radiance of the near full moon bathed everything in a silvery-white light. But the tree in which Inuyasha leaned against, the small nook he'd eased back into bathed the half-demon in shadow. The normally fiery red colored _kimono_ the half-demon wore appeared to take on an opaqueness that seemed unnatural. Red, the color of his clothing and fiery temperament, suited his nature well. But this dark color that seemed to shroud the half-demon's appearance was like seeing the half-demon being mysteriously consumed into a dark void.

"Kagome's a mom now. Just like mine was. Like mine…" The half-demon spoke softly, more to himself then to either of his drinking partners. His head flopped back against the tree as thought of Kagome; how she was to be weighed down even more with this new responsibility now. A dark cloud began to foment from a darker corner of thought, causing a fear to rise to his attention.

 _What if Kagome got hurt_? _What if our daughter got hurt_? _What would happen if they were to die because of me_? _What if some demon came after Kagome and I weren't there_? _How am I supposed to keep them safe now_? The questions grew in seriousness. He knew Kagome was strong and could take care of herself in a fight but now she had to look out for their daughter too. That dark cloud in his mind became more ominous and looming, filling his mind with the most fantastic imagined terrors.

Miroku watched the sudden change in Inuyaha's expression from a sloppy grin of celebration to that of worry and sudden confusion.

"Inuyasha…?" He slumped forward a little, leaning on his _shakujou_ for support. "Is something the matter?"

Inuyasha felt himself being pulled into the stormy vortex of drunken confusion as fear and doubt clawed at his heart. This once joyous feeling inside him had become blackened and scarred by worry and uncertainty.

He had no help to assist with this new task, no parent to look back to for inspiration. He had no role models to use as his guide; a marker of his success as this new role of parent.

"What am I going to do?" Inuyasha mumbled as he put a hand to his forehead, the weight of this new responsibility now on his shoulders suddenly felt too great, as if the world now suddenly rested on them. He would be looked upon as protector of his family on top of protecting the plains of Musashi.

"Huh? I don't understand…going to do about what?" Miroku shook his head a little, trying to focus on what his friend was saying. He watched, confused, as Inuyasha's expression turned to that of despair, as if he were experiencing some great and awful tragedy.

The dog-demon slumped forward drunkenly, holding his head from behind in his clasped hands as this unfamiliar feeling scrabbled to take hold of his heart, sensing this as his moment of weakness.

Inuyasha didn't understand this feeling he had. He felt afraid; afraid for his new life. Before, there was only himself he had to watch out for. If he died at the hands of his enemy in battle, then so be it. But it got harder to be so reckless and headstrong when Kagome came to stay by his side. He had to be more careful, keeping Kagome safe from their enemies. But now it was going to be even harder for he now had to watch out for a newborn child as well. He felt overwhelmed by the responsibility.

"How am I going to do this right?" Inuyasha felt his emotions begin to well up, threatening to break free of his steel will. Miroku still was unsure of what he was going on about.

"Do _what_ , Inuyasha? You're not making any sense." Miroku tried to understand but being drunk on top of it made concentrating very difficult. He didn't understand what his friend was going on about. Inuyasha looked up at his friend, a kind of restrained terror in his eyes at wondering how this seemingly normal human manages to raise three children.

"How do you do it? I mean, you have three of them to watch over. How do you manage to keep them all safe? I…I don't know what I'm doing." Inuyasha suddenly confessed in his wish for empathy. This awkward moment caught the Miroku off guard momentarily. He'd not suspected his battle-hardened friend had ever felt this way. Hearing Inuyasha boast and brag about his verity at becoming a father hid perhaps a person of greater depth.

Now Miroku understood him, this moment his friend was going through right now. Miroku remembered this happening to him as well; the moment of realization that you were stepping into fatherhood for the first time. How overwhelming it can feel in suddenly going from being a person to becoming a parent.

"Hey, hey," Miroku leaned over and patted his good friend on the shoulder, letting Inuyasha know it was all right. "What are you so worried about? You're going to be a great father." The monk grinned drunkenly at him, wanting his friend to be happy at this change. But Inuyasha didn't believe it.

"What kind of father am I going to be if I didn't even have one growing up? I didn't have one like you did. At least you got to know yours." Inuyasha silently cursed himself, having nothing to prepare him for this moment. He didn't want to fail at his new role.

"Don't worry so, Inuyasha. Parenting is a sort of learn-as-you go thing. Really. It's not like there's some book or instructions to raising children. Look at me. I've been at it for four years now and it hasn't killed me yet, though I think Sango has wanted to on a few occasions." The monk rubbed his head in remembering the thump he got from Sango for not helping like he should have recently. The monk tried to assure his friend, but Inuyasha still felt this feeling of helplessness clutch at him, only to have it interrupted by a growing and annoying sting on the back of his neck. It took a moment or two for it to register in his foggy brain; the sting persisting and he swatted his hand on the back of his neck in reaction.

 _Splack_! "Oh, squashed again!" A small voice squeaked. Inuyasha brought his hand around to see what was in his palm. The body of a small flea-demon lay in his palm, flattened by his strike. "Glad to see you again too, Master Inuyasha." The voice came from the flattened demon insect.

"Myoga!" Inuyasha snarled drunkenly, his speech affected by the _sake's_ fuzzy inebriation. He eyed the flea-demon suspiciously as it popped back into its normally plump little self.

"( _Hic)_! Ooh, my head! What have you been drinking?! You blood is totally intoxicated with it!" Myoga staggered on his wobbly legs, the alcohol in his master's blood making him drunk as well. Myoga bowed to Inuyasha, falling flat on his face in sickness from the tainted blood.

"Well, well. Looks like everyone came after all. How long have you been listening, Myoga? I didn't know you arrived." Miroku hadn't seen the vassal of his friend for quite a while. The flea-demon was never one to say when coming or going.

"Nonsense. I've been here all day. I've arrived this morning with Kohaku and Kilala. I slipped in the demon-slayers village last night and hitched a ride this morning." He explained. The flea-demon turned to look up at his master, pleased with the outcome of today.

"Congratulations are in order, my master. I am very happy for you and Kagome. A baby girl! How delightful!" Myoga glowed, happy for his master's new family.

Yeah…delightful." Inuyasha's rather gloomy tone made Myoga wonder about his master's condition.

"Is something wrong, Master?" The diminutive demon saw the look of disconnect in his master's eyes, as if this was something terrible. Inuyasha didn't answer right away. He had to think of how to ask a question that had been in the back of his mind since knowing Kagome was with child and growing more important with each passing day. He took a deep breath and exhaled before asking, trying to focus his drunken thoughts.

"Myoga, what was my father like? Did he…want me as his son? Did he-?" Inuyasha paused in asking, unable to get all of it out, his fear of knowing preventing him from venturing further.

"Love you?" Myoga finished the question for him. He'd suspected his master might have had such a moment like this. Perhaps it was time to tell his master something he'd kept from him. Sitting cross-legged in his master's palm, he began to retell his story.

"Yes, Inuyasha he did; very much so. In fact, naming you was the last thing he did for your mother before he died. He only got a brief look at you that night you were born, covering you and your mother in the fire-rat fur to protect you both from the fire that had been set by Takimaru's men."

Miroku had never heard much of his friend's life before meeting him and listened as attentive at his fuzzy brain could. Inuyasha had always been a very private individual and never discussed his family or his younger days.

"There was a fire?" Inuyasha's brow went up, hearing details of the day of his birth he'd never heard before. Myoga nodded.

"Yes. Your father was coming to your mother's aid from the fire Takimaru's forces had set, intent on killing you and your mother. Your father got you and your mother out of the burning house they were in as he faced off against Takimaru. They battled while the house burned around them and then collapsed on them both." Myoga remembered that night as if it were only yesterday. Inuyasha was stunned, he'd wondered if his father had seen him at all before dying.

"I was there, right on you mother's shoulder when he saw you for the first and last time. I saw the look in your father's eyes; it was the same look like you had when you held your child this afternoon." Myoga explained. He'd been on the windowsill and had seen the whole episode how his master had cuddled his newborn daughter.

Inuyasha didn't know what to say. He was so relieved to know his father had wanted him as his son. It had been a harbored fear of his; that his father never wanted a half-demon child and that maybe his father didn't love him.

But hearing from someone who was there, made Inuyasha want to faint in relief. His parents loved him, and he and Kagome loved their daughter. He felt such great happiness knowing this truth. His emotions were already on the edge of spilling over into sentimental blubbering and needed only a little nudge more to make him lose it. He tried wiping back the tears from his eyes with the sleeve of his _kariginu_ , trying to deny his emotions an escape. He didn't want to look like some weak and emotional human in front of Miroku. Myoga just had to add more. His master was weakening.

"You should feel very lucky, master. You have surpassed your father; you got to hold your child today on her day of birth. Your father never got to hold you when you were born. You also have surpassed Sesshomaru for he has not found a mate nor started a family. You have achieved first what has eluded him his whole life." Myoga saw his master's chin start to quiver ever so slightly, the powerful dog-demon being brought to his emotional knees. The flea-demon went for the kill.

"And I'm quite sure your mother would have approved of Kagome being… _Splat_! Oh, not again!" Myoga never got to finish his words. His master suddenly closed his hand, squashing him flat under Inuyasha's fingers.

"Shut up, will you?!" Inuyasha snarled drunkenly. He opened his hand, seeing Myoga pressed flat from his crushing fingers. "Don't mention my mother."

"I meant no offense, my lord." Myoga begged.

"She's not here to see this. None of them are." Inuyasha felt the fear inside him churn and morph to become like a simmering bitterness in his gut.

 _They should be here today; Mother, Father, Kagome's family and her friends_. He was upset that this most special day was passing and wasn't going to be shared with their loved ones.

"I understand your upset, Inuyasha. But even if our families aren't here with us today, it doesn't make it any less special. This is a great moment and I am sure they would be very happy and proud of you." He wanted Inuyasha to know he and Sango were here for them; a surrogate family that was glad to be part of his and Kagome's life.

"Besides," The monk added with a sloppy smile. "You're not going to get rid of Sango and myself that easy." Despite Inuyasha's regret at not having his family here with them, what Miroku said was true. If there was anything to the 'spiritual' stuff Miroku tried talking to him about earlier today, then maybe his parents were looking down on him from the heavens and watched on approvingly for their son. He felt the upset recede within him, replaced with the contentment of having good friends here with him to help and celebrate with him.

After thinking for a few moments in silence to what Miroku said, he found himself agreeing. He looked up again at his friend.

"You know what, your right about…" Inuyasha stopped, seeing Miroku's head lolled over to one side and his eyes closed, still gripping his _Shakujo_ in one hand to hold himself up with. The half-demon gave a drunken laugh and a slap on Miroku's back, startling the monk awake.

"Wha…?" Miroku tried to bring his fogged senses to attention but it was too late.

"Ha! Ha! You were out cold! You fell asleep before I did! You lose, monk!" Inuyasha gloated. He was victorious in their drinking game, having outlasted Miroku in who could handle more _sake_.

No, no. I wasn't asleep. I was merely…" The monk tried to excuse himself but the half-demon would have none of it.

"Face it, Miroku. I won!" Inuyasha again laughed as his heart was now lighter than it was only a minute or so ago. Miroku knew better than trying to argue with Inuyasha, it was pointless.

"So you have, Inuyasha. I guess you can hold your _sake_ better than I." Miroku relented. The monk hauled himself up on rubbery legs, the strong drink making him quickly light-headed as he tried to stay on his feet. With Inuyasha's help, he managed to pick Kohaku up and half dragged the young man along with him back to the hut where he and Sango were staying. Carefully, the duo lugged the unconscious demon-slayer down the shrine's staircase, taking care not to fall down the steps themselves while doing so. In what felt like an eternity to reach, they arrived back at their homes, making sure Kohaku was inside the hut and lying comfortably on the bedding. Before parting company for the night, Inuyasha showed a rare moment of his human side by actually giving Miroku a hug of gratitude for his friendship.

"Thanks, Miroku, for being there for me." Inuyasha could actually say he was glad to have a trusted friend in Miroku. Despite all the ups and downs they'd shared while adventuring together, Inuyasha could not want a better person to call a friend. Miroku figured it was just the _sake_ talking that made Inuyasha act the way he was right then.

"Anytime my friend." He shot the half-demon a parting sloppy smile and entered his home. Inuyasha staggered the six or seven yards to his hut, his eyes barely open and what vision he had was blurred and unfocused terribly. Somehow he managed to make it home and through the reed screen hanging in the doorway. Too drunk to really care where he would sleep, he stumbled into the first empty corner he found and slumped to the floor. It didn't bother him not to undress or get comfortable, his head was spinning like a top and all he wanted to do was sleep off the alcohol. His head rolled to the side and found the wall with a dull thud and then, blackness covered what was left of his consciousness, sending him off to sleep smiling for his great day.


	14. Here Comes the Sun

Ch. 5 'Here Comes the Sun'

Inuyasha could already feel the sensation of the faint light shining against his closed eyes, its glowing warmth arose his senses to the day's first rays of sunlight. The rays peeked over the horizon, shining through a tear in the reed shade in the window to land on his face. He again had barely slept a wink, his excitement and joy kept his heart aflutter. He was a light sleeper anyway. He was always up early at first light.

He turned slightly under the covers to see Kagome sleeping peacefully next to him, a quaint smile curled on her delicate lips. He lay there for a few minutes longer, watching Kagome sleep before quietly getting up. In one corner of their hut were the offerings to the new parents, some gifts coming from their neighbors and some arriving from acquaintances from far away. He was still getting used to all this 'niceness' humans showed towards him, especially now they he had a family.

He had a job to do today, something he'd promised himself he'd do the first chance he had. While his family slept, he dressed quickly and slipped out of the hut, making his way across the village, noting how quiet and still it was at these first hours of daylight.

Down the riverside he walked, heading for the far side of the lake. In a small thicket of trees near the lake, he found what he knew what was waiting for him. He knelt down, producing from within an inner pocket of his _kariginu_ , a single incense stick and Kagome's handy flame making gadget from her time. _Flick! Flick!_ He got the magic flame to appear and burn steadily in his hand, allowing him to light the incense and insert it in the ground.

In the quiet solitude, Inuyasha closed his eyes, trying to relax enough to finally give prayers for his mother and think of her again. Only the sound of an early bird occasionally chirping broke the silence around him. He felt at peace, wanting his mother to know of how much he missed her and longed for her to know she had a granddaughter now.

" _Okasan_ ," he spoke very softly. "I hope you can hear me today. I wanted to tell you that I just had a baby girl born to me by Kagome. You remember me telling you about her, last time I visited? She came to stay with me for good and has given me a daughter." He thought of when he first laid eyes on his infant daughter, the feeling in his heart at that moment and how it ached to be with her again.

"She's so beautiful, like her mother. I wish you could…" He caught himself. "I wish you _and_ Kagome's mom could see our child. I know you both would love her as much as we do." Inuyasha thought about Kagome's family, living in that world on the other side of the Bone Eater's well. How her family would never know Kagome was a mother now and not able to share in the joy. He could imagine the two of them, his mother and Kagome's together as two grandmothers doting over his daughter like she was the loveliest and most precious thing to grace the world over. It made Inuyasha smile to think of it.

The sun was cresting over the horizon now, dawn breaking over the land and he knew he had to get back to his home. "I have to go now, _Okasan_. My family will be getting up soon and I don't want them to worry about me. I love you and miss you very much." He kissed two fingers on his right hand and then touched the headstone, wanting his mother to know his love was still strong and remembering her in his heart.

He made his way back home, hearing a rooster crow in announcing the new day as he entered the village. Already there were a few of his neighbor's up and already getting started with the days' work. Slipping inside the hut, he found Kagome still asleep, their daughter slept peacefully in the simple wicker basket crib given to them as a gift as well. Kagome had already dressed it up with some pink colored bows and some extra blankets to pad the inside.

Kneeling next his daughter's crib, he watched with fascination of the tiny infant resting, unaware of her father close by. His sensitive nose picked out her delicate scent from the smells of her bedding and gown. It was uniquely his daughter's and it flooded his senses so he would recognize it whenever she was near. He could feel it work its way through his blood, through his very soul. He had that same urge to pick her up, but knew he had to wait until she woke to do that.

Pleasantly distracted by his daughter for a few minutes, Inuyasha came up with an idea to surprise Kagome with. He'd make a pot of tea and have it waiting for her when she woke up. As quickly and quietly as he could, he collected up the remaining wood from the pile outside next to the doorway and arranged the small lengths in the cooking pit to start a new fire. After several minutes of struggle and some muffled grumbling, Inuyasha managed to get a small fire burning away.

The faint chirps and squeals alerted him to his waking daughter. He glanced back over at his mate, seeing her shift slightly under the bedding. On his knees, Inuyasha slid over the few feet to his daughter's crib. Seeing his child stir, he got to indulge in finally being alone with his daughter.

Hearing her gurgle and groan at waking, he carefully reached down into the crib to pick her up.

"Shhh...It's all right, sweetie," he softly whispered to her. "Papa's right here." Clawed hands that could rend demon flesh from bone now gingerly encircled his newborn baby and the maternity blanket. Gently, he cradled her close in his arms, like Koharu had shown him how to, smiling warmly at her. Her eyes blinked open. Those limpid seas of green that were his daughter's eyes greeted Inuyasha. She looked right up at him, shooting the arrows of love again into his heart.

He marveled at those eyes of hers, how different they were from either his or her mother's. Not wanting to disturb his mate, Inuyasha took his daughter outside to sit and watch the sun come up together.

Watching the early morning sun rising in the sky and relishing in his new baby daughter, Inuyasha was filled with an unexplainable sense of fulfillment and happiness. The baby reached up, brushing his cheek gently as she explored her nearby surroundings. The feeling of her tiny fingers touching his face made his heart ache with sweet pangs of love.

"Hi sweetie," He glowed, seeing her looking up at him. Inuyasha gazed at the tiny person in his arms, so adorable that she seemed too perfect to be his. It was such an incredible feeling. He simply had to come up with an equally adorable name for her. Something from his heart, so that she should know it was for love he called her this.

"Look at you," he spoke so softly to her, feeling his heart strongly beat. "My little princess, my…my…" Grinning like a stooge, his eyes went wide in suddenly coming up with a name for her.

"…my _kao-no-koinu_!" He gurgled at her; overjoyed with the name he'd come up for her. It was perfect; his little 'Puppyface'. He snickered a little, his heart feeling like it was going to burst from the happiness he felt. He did not know how long he sat there looking at his child, wondering about what he could do for her in this life. He could not help but wonder at this new feeling wholeness that had absent for so long in his life.

 _Did mother feel this way when she held me_? _Did father ever feel this way too_? He thought about his mother and how she must have felt when he was this small, how much she loved her son and wanted to keep him safe. Now it was he who wanted to keep his daughter safe and protected from harm. He held her closer to his chest, bowing his head.

"My daughter," Inuyasha began in a solemn tone, closing his eyes as he made his vow. "I swear I will always be there to protect you and keep you safe." From behind, the sound of creaking floorboards alerted him to the presence of someone. He was so enraptured by his daughter that he hadn't sensed his mate's proximity. Inuyasha could only guess as to how long Kagome had been standing there watching and listening.

Dressed in her robe she shuffled outside to join him, happy to see Inuyasha getting to know his daughter. Kagome had heard everything and she knew well by how serious he spoke his oath and that he truly meant it too.

"Isn't she the most precious little girl, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked through a big yawn and stretch. She curled up close to him, sitting with him on the big log and leaning her head on his shoulder as she watched her mate hold their daughter lovingly.

"Yeah, she sure is." He answered dreamily, glancing at his mate sitting next to him with her arm around his waist. "What are we going to name her?"

"Any suggestions?" She deflected the question back to him, totally unprepared to come up with anything good so early in the morning.

"Well…" He paused briefly, thinking up a name. "There was one name we _could_ give her…"

At first she thought it was was that silly name she'd just heard him come up with, but the real name suddenly appeared in her head, like a ghost from the past. "No!" Kagome cut him off, appalled at what she knew he was thinking of naming their baby.

"We are not giving our daughter _her_ name. Not in _this_ reincarnated priestess' lifetime, mister." Inuyasha flinched back from her rather stern reaction.

"Okay, it was only a suggestion. Don't bite my head off at it." He quickly backed off, but had a hard time of thinking of another good name for his daughter. "She sure is adorable, isn't she?" Inuyasha said with a sigh, doting over his child's cherubic looks. Kagome nodded her head.

"She sure is definitely adorable."

In a flash, a name popped into his head. "What do you think about naming her Midoriko?" He offered innocently, expecting Kagome to disagree right away again.

Kagome gasped a little at the suggestion. "You mean, like the priestess Midoriko who created the _Shikon no Tama_?" She instantly brightened to the suggested name.

"It seems just kinda' natural, don't you think? I mean, after all, it was the Jewel that brought us together." He shrugged at his reasoning, simple and uncluttered. Kagome was floored by Inuyasha's suggestion and couldn't agree more with it.

"It's perfect." Kagome smiled, scrunching closer to bestow the name onto their daughter as she looked down at the baby in Inuyasha's arms. "Midoriko." She cooed, loving the sound of the name. Glancing up to look at Inuyasha's face, she watched as a single tear of joy ran down each of his cheeks, his happiness was so clear to her right then. Kagome knew how much he was moved by this event.

"Kagome," he turned to face her, unashamed at weeping in what he was feeling in his heart. "I…I've never felt so happy before. I feel like I don't deserve this happiness." He confessed to her. Kagome understood what he meant, for she felt the same as well.

Kagome, too, had this wonderful sense of wholeness, of feeling the most peaceful and content possible. This was their little slice of heaven to call their own.

The two of them would be happy here, a simple life to share in and grow old together. "But you do, Inuyasha." She assured him. "I want this feeling to last forever, too." Kagome spoke softly to him, cuddling closer to him. Inuyasha realized this is one of those 'special moment' things that Kagome had talked about over past months. She was right.

As they sat and enjoyed the quiet morning, from off in the distance came the steady clip-clop sound of hoof beats approaching from the road leading into the village. Inuyasha's ears pricked to attention, picking up the sound from far away, further than his human mate could hear. Looking up, he saw a rider approaching. The rider came steadily closer. Kagome looked up to see who was coming.

"Is it another visitor?" She spotted yet another unfamiliar person riding in. Kagome had met many well-wishers in the past few days that it was mind boggling to her.

"No. That's defiantly a warrior. I can smell blood, human blood." Inuyasha answered seriously. He handed his child to Kagome, standing up to greet this person who was interrupting his family's quiet time. The rider slowed his mount to a halt in front of them.

"I am looking for a priestess named Kagome. Are you she?" He queried.

"What's it to you, pal?" Inuyasha snarled, annoyed at the interruption of their morning. His weariness from so many strangers coming and going looking for he and his mate had him at his end.

"Inuyasha, be nice, will you?" Kagome chided him for being rude. "Please excuse him. He's just not a morning person." She joked, using a phrase that probably neither man would understand. "That would be me." She'd never consider herself a priestess of any kind before. But hearing it now, being embellished to her name made her wonder at it for a moment.

Perhaps she was a priestess somehow. After what she had been through in the past few years and all that she had seen, anything seemed possible to her now.

Wordlessly, the messenger handed Inuyasha a wooden scroll case bearing a royal seal. With only a nod of farewell, the rider turned his horse to head back the way he had come from. Inuyasha sat back down next to Kagome, examining the ebony cylinder.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Kagome urged with a playful nudge, very curious at what could be inside and excited to see that it bore a seal of some court official or important person.

 _I wonder who it could be from_? Kagome wondered who knew she was here and why they sent her a message. The case was just like the antique ones she had seen in books and behind glass displays in museums. And here she was, getting one delivered to her.

With a quick twist of his wrist, the seal was broken and the top smoothly slid off the base with a pop. She shook the container, turning it over to force the contents out. A single rolled up thin rice parchment sheaf slid out and into his waiting hand. Unrolling the scroll, Inuyasha watched as her eyes grew wide in apprehension at reading what was written.

"Kagome? What's wrong? What does it say?" He asked, seeing her rather featureless expression.

"It's…it's…" Kagome could not form the words to answer with, so overwhelmed she was by what was written on the scroll. "It's a formal request for us to appear at the home of an official in Owari; at the behest of the Shogun himself." She finally told him, her voice flat and emotionless from shock. She felt dizzy, unable to believe this was true. It had never seriously crossed her mind about the consequences of traveling back through time to her country's past. Only her little brother, Souta, being the sharp observant little geek that his was, made a passing comment to Kagome before she'd left to stay with Inuyasha. She recalled what he'd said to her one afternoon while she was home again.

" _Hey, Onesan, aren't people back then gonna' learn about you and Inuyasha? I mean, you and Inuyasha collected all those shards to restore the Jewel and helped out all those people along the way too. Word is going to get around about you and your friends, don't you think?"_ Souta wondered about this fact but Kagome had dismissed his concern.

" _Oh, Souta, don't be such a brainy nerd. No one really knows about us outside of the village. There's no way anyone's going to find out."_ Now his prophetic words came back to prove her wrong.

Perhaps she and Inuyasha _had_ become well known. Their travels had taken them across a great deal of the countryside. They'd met people from all walks of life. Somehow, somewhere, someone had passed word along to some very important people about her and her companion's quest to restore the _Shikon no Tama_.

Kagome found herself trembling a bit at thinking more in depth at this situation. These weren't a bunch of actors replaying out scenes from history on a school stage for her entertainment. There were _real_ people who served the emperor of Japan and his court. Now some of these same important people were demanding an audience with Kagome and Inuyasha.

She'd joked in the past about always wanting to get the Nobunaga's autograph as a souvenir. Instead, she was going to have to come face to face with the people of her country's past and kneel before them. She felt her stomach clench up slightly from thinking about it.

"What does this mean, Kagome?" He questioned, though he was sure he wasn't going to get an answer by the stunned look on her mate's face.

"I guess we'll find out in a week because that's when we have to appear before the court." She swallowed down the small lump in her throat, thinking about what could possibly happen. The thought of being requested to meet such important and powerful people, people who could decide their very fates made Kagome shiver.

"I need some tea." Kagome shook her head, overwhelmed.

"Here, let me take Midoriko and I'll put her back in the crib. You sit here and take it easy." Inuyasha carefully took hold of his newborn daughter from Kagome, cradling her and taking his child back inside to rest. Kagome sat alone for a few more moments, reeling from this news.

"Now what am I supposed to do?" She asked herself in a small voice. "What could they want of us?" A storm of thoughts and fears of what was going to happen filled her mind, knowing there was no way of running back home to escape or choosing not to attend this meeting. All she could do is pray for the best and hope she doesn't say anything stupid or horribly out of place at this important engagement. Fin? To be continued….


End file.
